After the Frost

 Last night was devoid of insect songs (outside) as the temperature dipped below freezing, but the crickets were playing their music again today. For all of those people who think that all of the insects will be dead after the frost... Nope. That's not how it works. A beautiful, sunny afternoon in the 60s is a beautiful day for bugs. Which is not to say I found a huge number of them out there, I never do anymore. But if it's not freezing out, the bugs are there.

Backyard Bug of the Day:

Birch catkin bug. An introduced species (I am fuzzy on whether it is invasive or not). I only see them in the fall.

Speaking of the cricket sounds from last night inside my house:

Bush cricket. It is blurry because it is inside my bug vacuum here. I felt bad about sending it outside, but that is where it belongs. There are some places in the world where crickets are kept as pets, I have read, but my house is not one of them.

When I did my bug walk, fairly early in the afternoon, the most popular aster plant was in full sun and attracting the usual insects; a paper wasp, some potters wasps, some flies, and some things that flew in and out so fast I didn't get to see what they were. Between the wind and their frantic feeding this is the only decent picture I got, but suffice to say, it was a pollinator hot spot compared to the rest of the flowers in the backyard.

 Today was definitely the kind of day that candy striped leaf hoppers like; I saw them all over the backyard. Specifically, I found them basking in the sun on certain kinds of plants, mostly. This on was along on a dried leaf; the others were all on trees and plants that still have green leaves:

Most of them were gathered on what I thought were black birch trees, but my husband, who knows much more about tree identification than I do, thinks are beeches. I wonder if the reason so many were gathered in groups is because they had spent the freezing night sheltering together, and were still close together when they emerged for the day.

Plant bug on goldenrod that has gone to seed

Hoverfly on aster

 

I think this may be a case-bearing caterpillar that has not made a case yet. I usually see them around now with cases made from the seeds of goldenrod. The goldenrods have mostly gone to seed, so now is the time for these to show up and start adorning themselves with the seeds in a way that looks like they are wearing grass skirts. I found this one dangling from a goldenrod plant.

I had a pleasant surprise today. There was a hawk that was flying around and calling while I was outside doing my bug walk, and I would look up to watch it when it was overhead. Once when I looked up I saw something that I at first thought was a leaf being carried on the wind, but suddenly realized was a...

... monarch butterfly. It is making a late start on its trip to Mexico, but there are still flowers in bloom to fuel up, so it should still have a chance.

Female

This is the first bumblebee I have seen in days, on a small goldenrod plant growing alone in the woods.