Porch Tree

 There is a tree growing through our back porch. It has been there for several years, although it's not very big, because at least twice (and possibly three times, I can't remember) the trunk has snapped off, due to the fact that the tree is growing through a slat between the boards of the porch that is only about half an inch wide. That prevents the tree trunk from growing wide enough to support itself beyond about six feet tall. My husband doesn't like having a tree growing through the back porch, but to humor me he has left it alone. I am sure he is secretly pleased every time it has snapped, but it always makes me sad. However, the tree has a strong will, and it just keeps growing back. I don't know what kind of tree it is, but I think it might be some kind of poplar, mostly just because there have been caterpillars on it in other years that have poplar as their host plant. The tree has been very popular with insects in past years, but not so much this year. It has always been especially popular with aphids, but again, not this year. I spend a little bit of time sitting on the back porch steps almost every day, right next to this tree, so it is surprising to me that just today I noticed that the underside of the leaves of the tree are covered with aphids. The aphid pictures I posted yesterday are from that tree, and for some reason yesterday I only noticed them on one leaf. Today I noticed them on many, many leaves. I don't know if they have only recently appeared on the tree, or if I am just so unobservant that in spite of sitting right next to the tree, and actually checking the tree for insects pretty much every day, I did not notice that it is covered with aphids.

Purples is not a common color among insects in my backyard. I love to see it.

Out of all of these, one with wings.

I found a lot of candy striped leaf hoppers again. They seem to congregate on trees that still have green leaves:

 

These are on a cherry tree.

 

Lots of them on a black birch branch, even though the leaves aren't green anymore. Note at the end of the branch the catkin buds for next year. Also, you can barely see it, but there is a drop of liquid on the lowest catkin. this is from before it rained; I think that droplet is honeydew excreted by the leafhoppers.

 

I didn't realize when I took this picture that I was taking a picture of two stilt bugs. I only noticed one.

 

The case moth caterpillars were out on their threads again today:

 

Sometimes there will be more than one on a thread. I am not sure if they are climbing each other's threads on purpose, or if they just get blown together.

The lower one here has no decorations on its case.

Large milkweed bug

Arachnid Appreciation:

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Itty, Bitty Baby

 Aphids are strange little creatures, and very unpopular with gardeners, but I find them cute and interesting most of the time. They are a food source for a great many insects, and have a fascinating relationship with ants. They have a somewhat odd reproductive routine, that sometimes involves laying eggs, and sometimes involves live birth, which is VERY unusual for insects. Also they reproduce parthenogenetically, a concept I have never found a great definition of until today. Parthenogenesis is reproduction with an unfertilized egg. But sometimes they do mate, and lay eggs, and it is as eggs that the overwinter, and apparently they can start giving live birth to new aphids shortly after hatching, and...It's pretty confusing, actually, this whole aphid reproduction thing, which includes something about some aphids being born with wings, and others not, and... well, anyway, I bring this up because of...

Backyard Co-Bug of the Day #1:

I think in the middle there is an aphid giving live birth to a nymph. 

I think that these are all the same species of aphid, and my guess is that the different colors are because some of them recently molted. But I don't know.

Backyard Co-Bug of the Day #2:

Wasp

Other Bugs:

The ailanthus webworm caterpillar has moved into a web inside a dried leaf that fell onto the ailanthus plant where it has been living. I think it might be getting ready to pupate there.

There were only a couple of fungus beetles on the bracket fungus today. They both looked like females.

This large milkweed bug nymph (on top of the seed pod) looks like it is about ready to molt.

I did not see case moth caterpillars dangling everywhere today, but I think they were on the plants, and therefore harder to see:

Well, this one was easy to see.

But this one and others blended in very well. 

I do wonder if the reason that there are so many of these caterpillars this year is because of the general dearth of insects. It is possible that there are things that prey on them that are not so abundant this year. Or it could mean nothing at all.

Arachnid Appreciation:

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I haven't seen a crab spider in a few days.

Time for Bees

 Today I was sitting outside in the arbor between noon and one o'clock, and I happened to notice that they aster patch next to the arbor was well populated with bumblebees. I was surprised to see them, because I have seen very few bumblebees lately. Part of that is because most of the flowers in my backyard have past their bloom; the goldenrod has almost completely gone to seed, and most of the asters have faded, too. This particular patch of asters still has a lot of blooms, but I have checked it on my bug walk every day and not seen any insects there at all. It occurred to me, though, that I tend to do my bug walk later in the day than it happened to be as I saw this, and most of the backyard, including that patch of flowers, is in the shade at that time. In fact, in the summer, that patch is in the shade most of the time. But this time of year,  and earlier in the day, there is obviously a lot of sun there, particularly as now many of the trees have lost their leaves. I have noticed before that I am more likely to find bees, including bumblebees, in sunny spots. It was a very pleasant surprised to see all of the bumblebees there today. I decided to take the opportunity to do an earlier bug walk just to make sure I was out there while the bees were still there.

Of course, seeing bees, and getting them to pose for pictures are not the same thing.

Once I was actually looking at the flowers from close by, instead of from a distance in the arbor, I saw that it wasn't just bumblebees that were there:

A couple of sweat bees

After having two Backyard Bugs of the Day yesterday, today I don't have any.

I have talked a lot, and I mean A LOT this year about how few bugs I have seen, with lower numbers of some species, and other species not showing up at all, but one species seems to be having a banner year:

Suddenly there are case moth caterpillars everywhere. Well, all over the goldenrod, anyway. I have never seen so many of them.

It's a hard thing to photograph; the caterpillars are tiny, and dangling from the plants on their silk threads. The threads were all over the area where the plants were, and I kept walking into them. I felt like I must be covered in caterpillars, which was not a pleasant thought, so I told myself that I was being silly, and didn't have any caterpillars on me. I believed it until I found two of them crawling on my sleeve. I would have taken a picture of them, but it's hard to photograph your own upper arm. I had a hard time getting them off, too–they did not want to let go.

Large milkweed bugs

The pretty leaf beetle has returned:

Ailanthus webworm caterpillar

Weevil

There were a lot more fungus beetles on the bracket fungus today:

Arachnid Appreciation:

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What is this doing in Arachnid Appreciation, you may be wondering? A bad picture of a bee on an aster? Well, as I was taking pictures of the bee (none of which were good), I noticed the photobomber.

Tiny jumping spider

Soloist

 Notes about today's bug walk:

To answer the question of whether I would notice if the crickets were silenced, yes, but it might take me a minute. While I was looking for bugs in my rock garden at the start of my bug walk (and not seeing any), I realized that I could only hear one cricket. No katydids, and only one cricket. It was odd. A few minutes later I heard another one from a distance, and eventually a few more. It was strange hearing only one for a while. But then when we went for our woods walk we heard plenty in the woods. It was very loud.

I saw a snake today. First time in a while. Small, so probably a juvenile, and I didn't get a good enough look to know what kind.

A lot of plants have gone to seed lately, so there are a lot of birds around the backyard, in the bushes and trees, and on the ground. There have been a lot of species (although I often don't get a good enough look to see what's in a bush or tree. Lots of cardinals.

Backyard Co-Bug of the Day #1:

Fungus beetles, I think genus Triplax. A female and two males who were vying for her favor.

I found them on this fungus:

Eventually the female decided she didn't like either of her suitors and sent them packing.

Backyard Co-Bug of the Day #2:

Grasshopper

It has a red leg, but is not a red-legged grasshopper by species. However, I was unable to figure out what species it is. There is a shockingly large number of grasshoppers in North America. Also note that it is missing one of its hind legs.

Other Bugs:

I found my first bug before my bug walk, in fact, just after I got out of bed and opened the shutters to look out the window:

Ladybeetle. I like it when I find insects on windows and can get this interesting perspective of them.

It was grooming itself.
 

Shortly after I started I had to take a pause from my bug walk to go into the house and get this bug out of my eye. It did not survive the extraction process.

 Assassin bug nymph:

Large milkweed bugs delving into a milkweed seed pod:

 

Tiny wasp on aster

The ailanthus webworm has moved to a new branch and started a new web.

Can you spot the two case moth caterpillars?

Arachnid Appreciation:

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I was actually trying to take a picture of this leaf when I spotted the spider. Unfortunately, it got spooked and flung itself over the edge when I tried to get a closer shot.