Life is Beautiful

It was another beautiful day in the backyard today! What made it even more beautiful is that the forecast said it was going to rain and be cold, but it was lovely and sunny. I know we need rain, and we are probably behind on our rainfall for the year (though not having a horrible drought like other parts of the country by any means), but I am pretty sure I am photovoltaic and rely on the sun to function, so I like my rainy days (and I actually do like rainy days) to be peppered lightly among the sunny ones.

I am pretty sure the bugs feel the same way. Not that the are photovoltaic, though I think they need warmth to function well, but I don't think they are crazy about rain. I am sure I wouldn't like it if raindrops were as big as me.

I have sometimes wondered, especially when I was a kid and spent more time observing ant hills (and knocking them down. That was very wrong of me), what ants do in their formicaries when there is a lot of rain...

And on that segue, let's look at some Backyard Bug Behavior!

These ants were doing some construction work. They were coming out with dirt in their mouths, walking away and dropping it, and then going back down. One of them came out carrying what looked like the back end of an ant. We built our own house, and while I was watching the ants work I felt grateful for the fact that I have hands, and didn't have to build the house with my mouth.

And here's some more Backyard Bug Behavior!

What's better than a six-spotted tiger beetle? TWO six-spotted tiger beetles! Which is not the same as a twelve-spotted tiger beetle.

That's probably enough suspense for you, so here's the Backyard Bug of the Day:

I think this is a skipper. What's a skipper? Skippers are a kind of butterfly (a family, or superfamily, whatever that is. I don't think it means they have super powers). According to my reading, they are usually small to medium, and drabbish colors (orange, gray, brown, white). The little knob on the end of their antennae is sort of comma shaped. They seem to hold their wings differently than other butterflies when they land (though that is my observation, so don't trust it as lepidopteral gospel), and are known for their fast, erratic way of flying. According to what I just read, some of them get nutrients from bird poop. So, all that stuff I said about bugs eating bird poops was apparently true.

I swear, I am not obsessed with bird poop and bug sex. This blog just makes it look like I am.

Moving on to Backyard Bud of the Day:

Yellow clover. Until (I think) last year we never had yellow clover in the yard, but it's established itself nicely out by the road.
It's getting hard to find buds...

But it's getting easier to find blooms!

 Blueberry! A very good sign.

 No idea...

I will now inundate you with pictures of iris, as both a purple and a yellow bloomed today.

 Inside. Iris are complicated flowers.

 Yellow iris are zebra striped!

On the subject of flowers, sometimes insect photography is sort of accidental. I take a picture of a flower and realize there's a bug there!

Like here, where I was trying to get a picture of these plantains (which my husband calls "nemesis"), and noticed the bug on one of the stems. Not the greatest picture of either, but I like the serendipity of it.

I was happy to see a toad today. After seeing a couple a few weeks ago, I had not seen another since, so it's a relief to know they are still around. So how about a little Amphibian Appreciation?

(There won't be any Arachnid Appreciation today. The only spider I saw more than a glimpse of was in my house, and I didn't appreciate it).

Dandelions are a little scarce at the moment because I mowed the lawn, but there are a few in odd spots...

I don't think this bug is going to find what it's looking for...

Obviously here at The Bugs in the Backyard we are emphatically pro-bug, but there are some bugs that are on the blacklist. Destructive invasives would be on that list, like the emerald ash borer. I got these pictures today, which I sent away to be identified. If they are not emerald ash borers, then this is a cool bug. If they ARE, then... BAD BUG! They are destroying ash trees in many forests now. I really hope this is not an emerald ash borer, because I don't know where it went... It was not on an ash tree when I saw it, so I am hoping that is a good sign.

I am crossing my fingers that this is something benign.

I have one more picture I want to share, but it's kind of a downer in some respects, so then I am going to have to find something else happy to post.

There is a side effect to our porch light attracting so many moths when we are out late at night, which is that when we try to go in the house there are always moths that try to come in, too. Sometimes they succeed, and it's pretty much impossible to catch them and put them back outside again. This is obviously one such moth, and whether because it had no food or water, or just because it reached the end of its lifespan, it died and I found it on the mat by the door. There is one thing to be said for dead bugs, though, which is that they are easy to photograph. (In fact, I have seen some absolutely mind-blowingly amazing bug photography that I was actually jealous of until I found out the photographers used dead bugs. Anyone can get a close-up picture of a dead bug. Dead bugs don't fly away, or flap their wings, or crawl around to the other side of the leaf, or bite...). So, sorry, pretty moth, that you died on my doormat, but you have great wings.

Okay, this may not be happy, but I think it's kind of funny...

I've seen this white foam on plants for years, and I always assumed that it was insect eggs or something, but I wanted to know what it was for sure, so I once googled something along the lines of "foam on plants" and up came information on spittlebugs. Which makes total sense, because that looks like spit. Anyway, the nymph of the spittle bug secretes this fluid (and not from its mouth - it's not spit) and then pumps it full of air to make it foamy, and then covers itself up with it as protection from predators (and cold temperatures and dehydration, as I just found out). Serious gardeners consider it a plant pest, but they don't do that much damage, and I don't really worry about those things anyway (except for invasives). I just find the idea of hiding out in a big ball of spit kind of funny, and the fact that there is a bug in there that I can't see just sort of tickles my funny bone as well.

Anyway, it makes me smile.