The Best Laid Plans...

Hi!

Behold! The Backyard Bug of the Day. Six-spotted tiger beetle. It's not a very fitting name - it doesn't always have six spots, and it looks nothing like a tiger. It is a beetle, apparently, so that part is alright. The rest of it is a bit puzzling, though. It's tricky to get pictures of it, because they don't like to sit still, and the both run fast and dash off flying when they don't want their picture taken, but this one was kind of sluggish today, perhaps because of the weather. I treat these with caution, however, because I read that they have a nasty bite.

And I believe it.

Quite a beauty, eh?

Now I will put an end to your suspense: No, I did not sit on the stone bench today, because it was wet. In fact, on my first foray out into the yard today it was raining - well, misting a little. My camera is supposedly weatherproof, but I didn't spend long outside on that first venture. Rain, however, is another favorite photographic subject, and spring leaves, being as fuzzy as they are, capture it nicely...

More flowering crabapple! But with rain!

 This, by the way, is where I saw the little caterpillar yesterday. I did not see it today. The leaves have opened up, it was raining... and it is possible the little guy just moved onto another plant. I'll keep an eye out for the next few days, though.

Due to the rain, finding bugs was hard. I did find two candidates of BBotD on my first foray out into the mist, but they weren't great...

It's a cool bug, but not a good shot, and it didn't let me get closer. When I find a bug I usually take a shot from a bit of distance first, not knowing how it's going to react to the camera being close. Sometimes I don't get to take any more, or they don't come out (the latter being the case today).
Then there was this one:

This is okay, but... You know. It's a gnat.

Anyway, I found the tiger beetle and all is well.

So, the Backyard Bud of the Day is a little iffy.

As in, I am not sure if it's a bud. This is one of our hazelnut bushes, and I didn't think it was supposed to be getting flowers yet, so I don't know if this is a bud, but if it isn't, I have no idea what it is. I don't think it's another leaf in the making... Well, I guess I'll know soon. If it does flower, that could mean we get hazelnuts (or the squirrels get hazelnuts), which would be pretty cool.

Today you get a rare treat - Backyard Bird of the Day:

Male and female goldfinches. The female blends in so well I didn't even see her when I was taking the picture, and only noticed her when I looked at it on the computer. I guess there must be a goldfinch nest nearby, or soon will be.

A few days ago I posted pictures of what I thought might be sawfly larvae, but they weren't doing the ninja thing when I tapped the leaf they were on. Well, now they are:

It's not as pronounced as I have seen before, but that could be because they are so small, or because they are so crowded together. If I get a better shot of it later, I'll post it.

Now we face the prospect of potentially eight straight days of rain, which I am NOT happy about. Whether or not I have anything to post about is dependent on being able to go outside and shoot something so... here's to the uncertainty of the future! Always something to keep in mind.