Chirp Chirp Chirp

One of the pointless things I do in my life is to try to explain humans to animals. Lest you think I am crazy, I would like to point out that I know the animals can't understand me. It's just my way of gently venting my frustrations at the difficulties of trying to take close-up pictures of tiny beings who are afraid of you. Mostly I try to convince them that I personally mean them no harm, but sometimes I will point out the general shortcomings of humans beings - poor (compared to other animals) eyesight, hearing, sense of smell, generally being slow and lumbering (compared to other animals), unable to fly - to make the point that for the most part, we're not that capable of doing anything. I also try to convince insects that there is no reason to fear my camera, because they will, ironically, flee the lens and land on me. I tell them that they might as well let me take their picture in that case, because between the two of us, me and my camera, I really am the more dangerous one (which perhaps flies in the face of my previous assertion that I am harmless. But then again, it is a bit of a lie to try to convince them that humans in general can't do anything to them). But sometimes there are other kinds of dialog between me and the other inhabitants of my little world. And I say dialog, because in this particular instance, the animals talk back to me. What I am talking about is today's Backyard Bird of the Day:

 We have bluebird houses in the backyard which every year are inhabited by house wrens. The wrens currently have young in their nest, and they get very upset when I am too close to the birdhouse. The way they express their annoyance is to sit in the tree near the bird house and chirp at me. I tell them that I am not going to hurt their babies, but they clearly don't believe me - in spite of the fact that I never have. What is fascinating about this behavior is that they do it because they expect it to work - and I suppose that I am reinforcing this belief because I eventually do walk away without robbing their nest. But I wonder about what would happen if they tried to use this technique against an actual predator. It's not very aggressive. When the robins had a nest with young in it on the porch last year, if I went out the door to look at them, they would dive at me - and they'd get pretty close, too. The wrens don't do that, they just chirp at me to go away. But if I was a snake, or a raccoon, I just don't see this working.

Backyard Bug of the Day:

Damselfly

Random Bugs:

 Bee on black eyed Susan

 Springtail?

 Whitefly. This is a bit of a macrophotography coup. These are very hard to get pictures of, because they are tiny, and usually fly away before I can get close enough to take a picture.

 Baby assassin bug

 It rained overnight and in the morning, so the yard was damp (and humid. So ickily humid), which is the kind of weather that sowbugs like, so there were sowbugs around.

 Found the tiny larva again - but I only saw it because it was moving.

 Wasp

 Still trying to get a really good picture of a tumbling flower beetle. I got two today that were better than usual.

 

 Hoverfly - more on this anon.

I found a cocoon that has some kind of really tiny larva cozied up to it.

Looper, looping across the car.

Arachnid Appreciation:
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 I was so intent on the hoverly as I was taking its picture that I didn't notice that it was not alone on this flower (the picture above is the same hoverfly on a different flower).

 See the tangle of white something on the opposite side of the flower's center?

 Zoomed in view - tiny flower crab spider

As I Was Saying...

I don't have any profound observations today, but I will say this: I find a lot of interesting things when I am wandering around my backyard, and I highly recommend you try it.

Backyard Co-Bugs of the Day:

 On the left, a looper caterpillar that has been decorating itself with pieces of the flower as camouflage. On the right, tumbling flower beetle.

 Here's how I ended up choosing them both - I was taking a picture of the looper and the beetle photobombed the picture.

 Tumbling flower beetle

 Looper caterpillar

 This is the pupa of the gypsy moth caterpillar I posted two days ago. Yesterday it was still in the resting phase, looking like a caterpillar. Today, it's a pupa. You can see the skin it discarded before its transformation on the lower right.

 Here's that same fly in its usual place. First time I've been able to get a side view.

 When I was looking up the identification for this little wood satyr butterfly the other day it said that they are abundant this time of year. They were certainly abundant today - I saw quite a few of them.

I almost got a shot of the dorsal side of the wings, but this is what happened as I clicked the shutter.

 The daisy fleabane is still popular. There were a great many of these bees on the flowers today.

 And other bugs.

 Ladybeetle

 It flexed its wings really fast - here is just as it is opening its elytra.

 Remember yesterday I wrote something about praying mantises, and I said that I didn't have a picture to show you? I have one today. Well, several, actually.

 It was quite young - probably less than half the length it will eventually be.

 Aphids

 

 Stink bug nymph

 Plume moth

When I first saw this, I thought it was a spider...

 ... but it's a weevil.

The porch light was attractive again tonight:

 This moth had an interesting standing-up way of resting. It was quite small, too, maybe half an inch from front to back.

 

 Most of the moths tonight were quite small, and rather non-descript.

 

 The eastern swallowtail caterpillar has continued to transform. It has developed its eye spots, and changed to a lighter green.

 

 Arachnid Appreciation:
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 Another micrathena spider

Once again a spider dashes out of my camera sight because something has landed in its web. I am becoming convinced that this is happening because gnats are trying to get at my head, and flying into the webs instead.

Tiny crab spider

On the front porch tonight. It surprises me that there aren't more predators attracted to these gatherings.

When the spider has its fangs in some prey, it's safe to get close.