Change of Mind

 It's funny how you can go through a revolution of thought and get from "Ew, gross!" to "I should go get my camera and take a picture of that." 

This, specifically:

On my way up the driveway when I went out to get the mail I saw a bunch of flies congregated. Most of them flew away when I got close (which is how I noticed them), and I warily looked at what they were so interested in, dreading that there was a dead animal on the driveway. They came back, and I saw that it was a dead earthworm that had attracted them.

Looking at the picture on my computer I noticed the squished harvestman, too. 

Nearby there was also a dead slug that was of interest to the flies.

Now, don't get me wrong, squished slugs are still pretty gross. But there was a time (most of my life) when I would have thought that the flies were gross, too. But now, in addition to seeing them as a part of the natural world that has an important place, I think they are pretty cool to look at, too. And since I don't like earthworms or slugs (I don't have to like everything, do I?), I am not heartbroken to see the flies feeding on them. There are lots of people who are really interested in bugs when they are young (I wonder how many of them grow up to be entomologists?), and I was, too, in a limited way–I was very into collecting millipedes for a while, because it was cool to see a couple dozen of them in a jar, but mostly I was of the "Ew! Squish it!" mindset. I don't even know why. I mean, it seems to be an instinctive reaction for a lot of people. I am glad I finally grew up and learned to marvel at them instead of loathe them. Loathing them was never a fruitful attitude to have. But having learned to appreciate the wonders of the insect world has been truly illuminating.

Anyway, back on the subject of dead things, and I don't know why I am posting this...

When I sat down on my back porch steps to put on my shoes I was excited to see a tiny, beautiful frog of a species I have not seen before. And then I realized it was dead. I have no idea why the little frog expired on my back porch steps, but it made me sad. 

Backyard Bug of the Day:

Woolly bear caterpillar, also known as the Isabella tiger moth caterpillar. There was a little one on the side of the house all day yesterday, but it was raining so I didn't go out with my camera. I hoped it would still be there today, but it was gone; I was happy, then, to find this one in the old garden. Contrary to legend, this caterpillar cannot forecast what type of winter we will be having, but according to some scientists you can tell what kind of winter we had last winter by looking at the ratio of brown to black sections. However, I don't remember how the ratio works, and I don't need a caterpillar to tell me what kind of winter we already had, because I remember it myself.
 

The autumn joy sedum was not as popular today, but there were still some bugs there:

Mostly bumblebees, but also...

An assassin bug

I checked up on the monarch(s) today–yesterday there was only one on the plant, so I figured the other one had gone away to pupate. This one was left with the whole plant to itself, no sharing of leaves:

Then I found the other one on a leaf that had fallen (or probably been eaten through) on the grass. They both should be heading off to pupate soon. I hope they make it.

There's some thistle blooming, and the bees (here is one bumble and two sweat) are a little bit combative about sharing it.

Nearby the thistle is where there were really a lot of bees. It's hard to see in the picture, but if you really look there are dozens of them here.

The small pond in the woods dried up early in the spring and has been empty or nearly so since then, even with all the rain we had in July, but it filled up and overflowed onto the path last week and is still pretty full of water. I enjoyed watching the tiny, intriguing creatures living in it in the spring, but now...

It is teeming with mosquito larvae. Warm it up and you could call this mosquito soup.

There have been a lot of frogs there since it filled up with water, and I have read conflicting information about whether or not frogs eat mosquito larvae, but I hope they are feasting. You can see at least one larva in the picture.

Arachnid Appreciation:

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For the last couple of weeks there has been a spined micrathena spider's web across the path next to the stream. Sometimes we see it or remember it is there in time to duck under it; sometimes we don't. Well, yesterday the web got pretty badly wrecked, and I guess the spider got fed up, because today her web was built over the stream.