Golden Days of Summer

My bug walk started once again from something I saw while I was sitting on the back porch steps, and then continued a bit later while I was taking a break from doing some work on my house. I was about half-way through when I realized I was still wearing my tool belt, complete with hammer dangling from its hanger and banging into my knee as I walked. Weird how you don't notice things like that when your mind is on something else...

Anyway...

Backyard Bird of the Day:

I think it's a warbler. I think this is a male; there was another one that was more drab that I think was the female. She kept to the shadows, hidden by leaves, so I didn't get any pictures of her.

I didn't choose a Backyard Bug of the Day today. None of them really moved me.

So, what did I see while I was sitting on the back porch today?

Lady beetle eggs. I think these must have been laid after my bug walk yesterday, because they were on the same leaf where I saw yesterday's BBotD, and I would have seen them then. Also on that leaf was a somewhat advanced lady beetle larva, that I did not get a good photo of yesterday, but I today was even more interesting...

I didn't realize it until I looked at it on the computer, but this lady beetle larva is just emerging from a molt; you can see that it is not completely removed from its exuvia.

I took this picture a little bit later:

Here it as fully emerged from the exuvia. You can also see that it is darker, particularly the face; from what I have seen, bugs are usually paler when they first emerge from molting, and get darker after a little time.

Here are some smaller larvae.

And an adult. Too bad I didn't find a pupa, I could have shown you the entire lady beetle life cycle.

Also still hanging around, but on a different leaf, yesterday's BBotD:

Brown lacewing larva, eating an aphid

The goldenrod are in bloom...

... which is great for an ambush predator. This jagged ambush bug can just hang out here–

–it actually blends in pretty well–and eventually something to eat will come along, because...

...Goldenrod is a very popular plant with pollinators:

Sweat bee

Bumblebee

Honey bee

Sweat bee

It's not just bees feeding on the goldenrod. This hoverfly was weirdly aggressive–I saw it ram into a sweat bee twice to get it to go away.
 

Planthopper that has been through some things
 

There are only a couple of purple coneflowers blooming in my backyard this year.

They are always popular with pollinators.

I wish when I was taking pictures of the bee that I had noticed the beetle. I would have tried to get pictures of it, instead of just getting this shot.

Cricket

Fly, I think a species of tachinid. Probably attracted to the back porch tree by the honeydew on the leaves.

Itty bitty babies in Arachnid Appreciation:

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Jumping spider spiderlings, which are tiny and adorable.