Ugh

 You know I am generally a fan of members of the Class Insecta, but I don't like them all. And so today we're going to begin with a Public Service Announcement and Backyard Ugh of the Day:

Don't leave standing water in your backyard.

I don't keep my birdbath filled all the time because I don't want mosquitoes to lay eggs in it. I let it dry out frequently. Sometimes when I fill it I use water that is collected in a watering can that has been left out. Well, today I filled the birdbath and noticed tiny things swimming around in it. I got my camera for a closer look and realized it was mosquito larvae. Because the birdbath has been dry for a few days I am pretty sure they were already in the water when I dumped it from the watering can. So I guess we need to put the watering can away where it won't collect rainwater. Rain water evaporates pretty quickly from the birdbath, but I guess not from the watering can. I ended  up dumping all of the water out of the birdbath and hosing it off, and I left it tipped over to fully dry for a few days.

There were a variety of sizes of the larvae–see the tiny one on the left–so I would guess that mosquitoes have been laying eggs in the watering can for a while.

More on what I found when I tipped over the birdbath later...

Backyard Bug of the Day:

Crane fly

Other Bugs:

Assassin bug lurking between leaves

Click beetle. Click beetles are thus named because when they feel threatened they flex (or something) their bodies and kind of flick themselves away with a click. I have been up close and in the faces of a lot of click beetles over the years, and have never seen one do that–apparently they don't generally find me threatening–but this one clicked away when I tried to get a closer shot, and I was exited to finally see (and hear) a click beetle click. And then I felt sad that I made it feel threatened.

Hm. I just realized I really didn't see very many bugs today. I photographed a couple others that aren't good enough pictures to post, and saw a few that I didn't get pictures of, but it wasn't really a buggy day. Part of that could be that I went out in the late afternoon/early evening time that isn't high time for bugs. I don't know why else, unless it's a continuation of the last few years of declining bug numbers. We do seem headed for drought again, and speaking of which...

I think the salamanders are doomed. It seems to me that if we get an inch of rain every week that maintains the small pond at least a little, so that there is always water in it, but we aren't getting an inch of rain every week. There isn't even a tiny puddle there now. The ground is barely damp. All of the egg masses are exposed. Last year at least some of them had hatched by the time the pond dried up, but I don't think they had this year. Alas.

Meanwhile, in the big pond:

I saw a couple of these frogs. What's fun about them is you don't see them at first, because they blend in really well. There's a lot of green algae (or something) on the surface of the pond, and they sit with their heads just above water. Their heads are green, blending in with the algae, but their bodies are speckled brown, so they blend in with the brown water and the dead leaves in the pond.

Here you can see the green head, but also the speckled, brown body.

Another one

Also seen in the woods today:

I think that is pollen raining down. 

Arachnid Appreciation:

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Now, about what I found under the birdbath... Backyard Reptile of the Day (and no, it's still not a tortoise. It is never going to be a tortoise):

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The birdbath doesn't have a pedestal, it is basically just a cement dish, and I have it in the rock garden, sitting on top of the rock. Well, apparently there is a space underneath it, because when I tipped it off the rock to empty it, I found this snake curled up underneath. It took me a while to notice it, actually, and the snake didn't move. It just sat there (where it was probably quite cool, even on such a warm day), and was still there when I went and got my camera and came back. It was pretty small; I would say this coil is about three inches across, or less. I think it might be a juvenile eastern milk snake. I can see a hint of a checkered belly, one of the characteristics of an eastern milk snake. Non-venomous, or I would never have gotten close to it with my camera. I'll admit it freaks me out a bit to know that snakes lurk in my rock garden. This is not the first one I have encountered there. I know snakes are useful neighbors, but I walk around in the rock garden, and if there are snakes under the vegetation, I would not see them.