A Fortnight Or So's Worth of Bugs

 This blog post is not finished. It may not be finished for a couple of days. I am posting it for pragmatic reasons, but it's not ready to be read. If you are seeing this message, come back in a few days... Yay, it's finished! And it only took me five days! Please, read on!

I didn't realize it's been so long since I posted...

Yesterday I had to get up incredibly early because I was doing some volunteer work involving collecting water samples from a river so they can be tested for contamination. We start very early, and when I got home it was still morning, and I was exhausted–not because it was hard work, but because I had only had about an hour of sleep before I had to get up. So, I planned to walk right into my house and go back to bed, but on my way to the door I spotted a bug. I was torn about what to do. It was a species I have seen before, nothing new, and one I have seen a few times this year... but not managed to photograph yet this year. I could go in the house and get my camera... but would the bug even still be there when I got back outside? And I was soooooooooo tired...

I got my camera. The bug was still there. I got some okay shots. And then... I decided to do a bug walk. I didn't do my full bug walk that used to be my routine, but I spent some time walking around the backyard taking pictures, and it was kind of strange. I am a total night owl, and so I go to bed so late every night that I am almost never up and out in the morning. So walking around my backyard in the morning it was like it was a totally different place than the one I visit every day. In the afternoon my backyard is very shady, because there are a lot of trees there, and over the years they have grown quite tall. But in the morning everything is aligned in such a way that the backyard is quite sunny. My backyard used to be sunny, but as the trees have grown it has gradually become less and less so, to the point that I had forgotten what it was like until I happened to come across a few pictures taken 9 years ago, and was surprised at how different it was then. The consequence of my decision about 20 year ago that I was not going to have a huge lawn in my backyard, that I was going to just mow paths and let nature do what it wanted in the rest of the space has meant that a lot of trees have sprouted and grown in that time, and now it is all very different. I kind of miss the sunniness now that I look at those pictures and feel nostalgic for how it was, but I love the way it is now, too. I do love trees. It's just that things grow sometimes without me noticing how much they have grown. I wonder if for people with kids it is like this. Suddenly they are taller than you, and graduating from things, and you realize that they did that without you really realizing it was happening on a day-to-day basis. But instead of children I have trees. 

Okay, now I am sounding bonkers. The point is, walking around in my backyard in the morning on a sunny day was really like a different place than it is the afternoon. It was lovely in a totally different way. I enjoyed the experience. It's good to look at things from a different point of view, and see how they change. And it was gratifyingly buggy that morning...

Now, should I post the pictures from yesterday morning, and then go back in time to other days, or should I go in chronological order?

Hm.

Okay, Backyard Co-Bug of the Day #1 from June 14:

Buffalo Planthopper.

Backyard Co-Bug of the Day #2:

Carrion beetle. I saw one in exactly the same spot a few days before, while mowing the lawn, but by the time I got my camera it was gone. Then while walking in that spot on this day I was thinking about the fact that I saw a carrion beetle there a few days before, and I looked down and there it was.

So, bug-wise, what's been going on the last two weeks? Some days, nothing. Some days, a lot of frustrating attempts to take pictures. And some days a gratifying number of bugs. I have been seeing a lot of tiger swallowtail butterflies, mostly flying up among the treetops, which I think is because their host plants for their caterpillars are various species of trees, so though I have on occasion seen the caterpillars down on low branches, I suspect they often lay their eggs up high. I haven't been seeing a lot of tiger swallowtails in the last few years (it's been 2 or 3 years since I managed to get a picture of one), so I am happy to see them. 

There are certain bugs that I will automatically declare Backyard Bug of the Day if I get a good, or even a decent picture of them, because they are things I rarely see or are difficult to photograph, much less photograph well. So if I see a bug that I usually only see about once per year, and get a shot of it, it gets to be Backyard Bug of the Day, because I know I might not see it again for a year. And if one of the hard-to-photograph bugs happens to cooperate for a change, obviously that day I am going to feature the bug. But there are some bugs that I rarely see AND are difficult to photograph. There are some that I have never managed to get a good shot of. Frustratingly, in some cases I even know when to expect to see these bugs, and on what plants I will find them, but even with that knowledge, because they are so uncooperative, I just can't get a good shot.

That leads us to daisy season... [The next group of photos is from June 9].

Daisies are blooming in my backyard right now. They are pretty popular with pollinators of various kinds, including bees, flies, and even beetles. In this picture you can see a fly (and another out of focus on one of the other blooms) and one of the most exasperating bugs in my backyard. It is either a tumbling flower beetle or a wedge beetle; I get them confused, and I am too annoyed with that insect to do it the honor of looking it up. I have been trying for... oh, about ten years to get a good picture of this species. I have never, ever succeeded. I have managed a few okay ones, but never a good one. Most years I don't see them very often, only sighting them once or twice, but when the daisies bloom I know to look for them there, as that is almost always where I find them. But knowing where to find them does not translate to getting a good shot. Part of that is because of the shape of the beetle, because it is so rounded that with the narrow depth of field it is hard to focus well on them. Part of it is because very often when I find them they are in the shade, and combined with their dark coloring it just adds a level of challenge to getting a shot in focus, because of the camera settings involved. And part of it is just because they don't like it when I get close with my camera, and won't sit still. Even this picture was a challenge; although I didn't get close in with the camera (yet), so the bug wasn't spooked, I had to content with the slight breeze that made the daisy dance. THIS was the best shot I got of that insect on that flower on that day. I took a whole bunch the day before, and not a single one was worth posting. Interestingly, I have seen a lot of these beetles this year. I have taken pictures of them every day this past week. It has not been Backyard Bug of the Day yet. 

Daisy Fleabane is another flower where I have seen them a lot this last week:

Daisy Fleabane is also popular with a lot of pollinators.

This is probably the best picture from a week of trying.

I've been eating my breakfast outside on occasion, and been visited by bugs who also want to read the comics in the newspaper:

Tiny leafhopper nymph

And I found a charming hitchhiker on my shoe while walking in the woods:

I was thrilled to see this, because caterpillars have been scarce this spring. These are new shoes, by the way; this was the first time I wore them. My old hiking shoes have kind of been ripped to shreds by thorns in my woods. I hope these are better able to withstand them.

Okay, June 11...

I have been looking for katydid nymphs for weeks with no success, and finally saw this tiny one on a milkweed leaf. I don't think I have ever seen such a small one of this species. It was very good at hopping; when I tried to get closer, it sprung away. Those brown lumps on the leaf are frass–caterpillar droppings. This milkeed plant was covered with frass, but I could not find a caterpillar on it, and there was no leaf damage, so where it came from is a mystery. Frass that size would come from a caterpillar big enough to see.

 Backyard Bug of the Day for June 11, 2022:

This is a beetle larva. This is not one of those bugs that is black, but looks blue because of the light, this one actually is blue. I have never been able to find out what species of beetle this is, because none of my bug books cover larvae.

Over the course of the last week I have seen the entire life cycle of lady beetles:

Mating

Eggs. These were gone by the next day. I think something ate them, because there was nothing left but some spots on the leaf, and if they had hatched there would have been remnants of the eggs and a lot of tiny lady beetle larvae. They don't disperse right away–although some of them will eat their siblings. Nature is harsh.

Larva, eating aphids

This leaf was littered with the remains of aphids. The lady beetle larva will eat the whole aphid, but the syrphid fly (aka hover fly) larvae, which are the weird orange blobby things and the other weird thing to the right of the lady beetle larva (different instars) just suck the fluids out of them I think. I think that white thing at the top is possibly the shed skin of one of the syrphid fly larvae. 

Aphids secrete a sugary substance called honeydew, and so they have a cooperative relationship with ants: ants protect the aphids from predators, and then the ants get to feed on the honeydew. It sometimes appears to me, however, that ants aren't really that good at protecting the aphids. Note:

Lady beetle larva eating aphid, ant approaches...

... the ant climbs on top of the lady beetle larva...

... and ultimately just walks away. The lady beetle larva keeps eating. Note the aphid in front of the lady beetle larva is excreting a droplet of honeydew.
 

I'm not sure if the different coloring on this one is because it is a different species, or a different instar.

Pupa

Then adulthood, and the whole cycle can start again.

Other Bugs from Jun 11:

Crane fly. These have been EVERYWHERE lately. I have especially been seeing them on evening/night hikes in the woods, always when I am without my camera, of course.

Long-legged fly. These have been everywhere lately.

Leaf hopper nymph

Now, June 12th...

Backyard Bug of the Day for June 12:

Some kind of weevil. I don't remember seeing one like this before, but I have been looking at bugs in my backyard for ten years now, so it is possible I have seen it and don't remember it. I have seen a lot of bugs.

A couple of leaf hoppers. I don't know if these are the same species in different colors, or different species. Note the white circle on the leaf behind the yellow one. that is a droplet of honeydew, the sugary substance that leaf hoppers, like aphids, secrete. It looks like a white circle because it is reflecting the ring flash on my camera.
 

 When the clematis and day lilies bloom I always start looking out for a particular species of katydid nymph, because most years that is where I find that species of nymph. But this year the clematis bloomed and faded, and I didn't find any nymphs. The day lilies never even came up. I looked on other flowers for the nymphs, and finally...

Katydid nymph on daisy fleabane. It's a really small one, smaller than I would expect to see now. I guess they got a late start this year.

Crane fly

Still trying to get pictures of that beetle...

 I just found this post from this date (it is June 18 as I write this–this post is taking forever) in 2012 (the first year I started doing Backyard Bug of the Day on my Facebook):

So when I saw I have been trying for a long time to get a decent picture of one of these beetles, this is what I am talking about. This was probably the first time I saw it. And you can tell it's on a daisy.

Backyard Bugs of the Day from June 13:

I think these are a species of borer beetle. They hung out on this leaf for 2 days.

 

I took this picture a couple of hours after the other two. This was a day that I did not intend to do a bug walk, but when I saw these two beetles while I was outside I decided to go get my camera. After I took pictures of them, I decided that it was such a gorgeous day that I would keep looking for bugs. I finished my bug walk and went inside. Later, after uploading my pictures and looking at them I decided none of the pictures I took of the beetles were very good, and I went out to see if they were still there. Since they were, I took more pictures. They were still there for the next two days.

The Other Bugs from my bug walk that day:

Another bush katydid nymph, on daisy fleabane

Still trying on those beetles...

Hoverfly (aka syrphid fly. See larvae above)

When I first saw these I thought they were lady beetle larvae, but upon looking closer I realized they don't really look like it, and also they appear to have eaten holes in this leaf, which lady beetle larvae do not do. I am not even sure if they are beetles or sawflies. I think beetles.

Every year I think I get one picture of a male velvet ant, and here's the one for this year. And I know what you're thinking, that does not look like an ant. That is because velvet ants are actually wasps, and the reason they are called velvet ants is because the females do not have wings. Also, ants and wasps belong to the same genus, Hymenoptera. If you look closely at them, wasps and ants do look very similar. Anyway, I could also be wrong, this could be some other kind of bee or wasp. But the fact remains that I see them every year, and they fly low over the grass like this, and are hard to photograph because they never seem to land. Most of the pictures I take of them look like this:

Robber fly

My husband got home in the evening, after dark, and I had turned on the porch light for him, and when he came inside he said, "There's something interesting on the porch, a moth, or a slug, I don't know..."

It is indeed a moth, and the species is Beautiful Wood Nymph. Interesting name because it is a mimic, and what it is mimicking is not beautiful.

Here's a farther view. In my backyard I have actually had the experience of spotting these and not being sure if it was an insect or bird poop.

June 14:

Caterpillars have been scarce this year, but I happened to spot this tiny one on daisy fleabane.

Speaking of banes...

STILL trying to get a good shot of this beetle. I did not notice it had a companion when I took the picture.

Some attempts are worse than others.

Sawfly

Grasshopper nymph. Aside from its diminutive size, you can tell it is a nymph because its wings are not fully developed. Last year I think I only saw two grasshoppers all summer. So far this year I have seen several nymphs, which is encouraging.

Okay, whew, only one more day of pictures on this marathon blog that is taking me much too long to produce!

Backyard Bug of the Day from June 15:

This is an early instar caterpillar, some kind of Furcula, I think. These caterpillars are called Furculas because of the wishbone shaped "tail." They use it for defense.

It doesn't have stingers, but they wave it around to ward off attackers. In the past I have had them waved at me when I got close with my camera. In this case the caterpillar is reacting to an aphid that walked up to it–you can see the aphid just above the caterpillar's head in the picture.

Considering how harmless aphids are this seems like an overreaction. Notice it doesn't just wave its tail, it raises up the front of its body, too, I would guess using the strategy of many other animals (including humans) of trying to make itself look bigger and more imposing.

Thrashing around

Calming down when the aphid walks away.

This is another one. I found both of them on the back porch tree. They were really tiny, only about a half inch long, including the tails. 

I don't remember what day these were taken:

I don't seem to be seeing as many frogs and toads on my hikes in the woods this year, but there are definitely a lot more lately, particularly after it rains. This frog is sitting beside the stream in a spot that is very popular with frogs. Usually they hop into the stream before I get a picture.

This one let me get really close!

So, that's it for about two weeks of bugs. Obviously I did not do bug walks on most of those days. There were actually a couple of days I took my camera out but didn't find anything, or at least anything I could get a picture of. There are a lot of bugs that are not represented; I saw a lot of bees, for example, but with warm days and lots of things blooming they tend to be really busy and not willing to sit for a picture. I have been seeing fireflies at night, and dragonflies during the day. So, so, so many butterflies, mostly cabbage white and tiger swallowtails, but others, too, that I don't necessarily get a good enough look at to identify. At night, both in the woods and on the porches, attracted to the light, I have seen lots of moths and those golden cockroaches. And the mosquitoes have arrived, of course. This blog is really only a representation of what I have been able to photograph, NOT what I have actually seen. So if you want to see more bugs, plant a bug-friendly backyard, and go outside to look for them.
 

Arachnid Appreciation:

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

Since daisies are so attractive to insects, it makes sense to find a spider waiting there to grab a meal. Notice it has pollen on it.

We went on a night hike in the woods, during which I walked through a lot of spider webs that were built across the trail, and dodged a lot of others that I saw with my flashlight in time to avoid them. Then I found this across the path right in my backyard (I damaged the web before I saw it, but I did not completely break it):

This might be a cross orb weaver.

From the other side of the web. Looks like it caught a beetle.

I spotted this on a night hike, and this picture is illuminated with a flashlight, and taken with my phone. I am not sure what's happening here, because I don't think that harvestmen/daddy-long-legs eat things this big. It may be that they both just happened to be walking on the same tree trunk and met up.