Bugs and Comedy

Sometimes taking pictures of bugs is all about The One That Got Away. There are a lot of those - cool bugs that fly away or scurry into hiding before I can get my camera focused. Sometimes ever before I can get the camera pointed in their direction. Some of those are bugs I will see again some other time and maybe even get a good picture of, but there have been a few I think I only glimpsed once, got no shot at, and never saw again.

Today's One That Got Away is one I have seen before (last summer), but it's still annoying that it didn't stick around so I could take a picture. Though technically, I did get a picture...

I was taking a picture of a moulted exoskeleton of an assassin bug (I think) on a grass head and something else landed on the other side. Of course it flew off as soon as I turned the grass head around, but I still thought it was kind of a funny incident.

Not as funny as my spider incident that happened later, but more on that anon.

I did get a slightly better picture of the exoskeleton.

There's something so bizarre but fascinating about climbing out of your skin and walking away, leaving your skin just standing there.

I didn't find my Backyard Bug of the Day during my bug walk. I found a few candidates, but the bug that wins the day I just saw sitting on the side of the house later when I was outside for a few minutes.

Backyard Bug of the Day:

I actually got a decent picture of this moth! It's not exactly what I wanted - I always prefer pictures of bugs on natural surfaces instead of the side of my house, but I'll take it for now - at least it didn't fly away! I think it is there looking for a mate - You can't really tell from the picture, but its body is arched so that its back end is sticking up - I think moths do that when they are looking for a mate. If I wanted to have all my blood sucked out by mosquitoes I could have sat outside and waited to see if another moth took it up on the offer, but that was not an appealing idea.

I took several other good bug pictures, and I will share a couple.

I am pretty sure this is the same as one that was BBotD a while back. I just couldn't resist those colors! (Note my finger in the background, holding the leaf at the right angle for the picture).

Backyard Bud of the Day is a favorite flower:

Milkweed. If you want bugs in your yard, plant milkweed. If you don't want bugs in your yard, plant milkweed anyway and learn to live with the bugs, because the flowers are beautiful, and they smell heavenly. Milkweed is host to an entire community of bugs, but most importantly it is the only host plant of the Monarch butterfly. The butterfly lays its eggs only on milkweed plants, and they are the only plant the caterpillar eats. Monarch butterflies are declining, so plant some milkweed. Don't eat it, though, because it's toxic. And enjoy the many, many species of bug you'll see on the plants.

Speaking of plants, a few more struck my fancy today:

And of course, there's Daily Dandelion:

There are wrens building in the bluebird house again, so I got a Backyard Bird of the Day:

 Ooh! Nice! Not quite in focus, so if you could just stay still...

 Sigh.

The hummingbird came back today:

Hummingbirds like to sit on bare branches.

There's more than just bugs and birds in my yard.

There's also bunnies:

Now, about that spider...
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Arachnid Appreciation:

 This is the cute, little spider that I appreciated today...

This is the cute, little spider I appreciated today just before it jumped onto the lens of my camera. Imagine what that looks like while you're looking at the spider all close up through the lens...
Trust me, it was funny... after a while.

I am on watch for the first fireflies of the year...