Location, Location, Location

 I am not going to speculate why, but there are sometimes bugs that I see from year to year, only a couple of times, and always in about the same place. I don't just mean things like milkweed bugs that I see on milkweed plants, which are their host plant. I mean bugs like today's Backyard Bug of the Day:

Can you see it? I am giving myself pats on the back for spotting this one.

I have seen this species of beetle twice now, including today, both times on this same tree trunk. And it's not just that this is its host plant; this is a black birch, and there are black birches all over my backyard. But both times I have seen this beetle, once last year, and now today, it was on this trunk, in crevices in the bark (but different crevices, about a foot apart). But you probably wanted a closer look at the beetle, didn't you...

This is a leaf beetle, I think species Calligrapha vicina. But maybe this is too close a look?

Other Bugs:

Another insect that I only ever see in one place in my backyard is the striped garden caterpillar, which I always find on these grass plants down by the street. I think in this case it is a matter of host plant, though, because that is the only spot in my yard where this grass grows. I posted a picture of this last week, as BBotD, and expected to see it again the next day, and for several days after, because once I spot it, I usually see it for a while, but it was gone the next day. Today, as you can see, it was back.

Dragonfly. Also down near the street, which is where I see most of the dragonflies in my yard.

 Bees go everywhere, of course:

 

On aster

Candy striped leaf hoppers on goldenrod plant

This creature hitched a ride in from the woods on my husband's shirt when we went for our walk today:

It is pictured inside my bug vacuum. I have no idea what it is. It's tiny, and at first sight I thought it was a tick, and my husband thought it was a spider. But it has six legs, so it's neither. I then for a short time thought psuedoscorpion, until I really looked at it, and it's nothing like a pseudoscorpion (which, as you can tell from its name, is not really a scorpion. It's harmless. And I have never seen one in real life, only in pictures).

Arachnid Appreciation:

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This spider was on the front porch wall when I released the mystery bug outside.