Starting Off Right

Wednesday, July 23, 2014

I go outside every day looking for bugs, but sometimes it is the other things that I find that are more exciting to me.

Like what I saw as soon as I walked out the back door today:

 This is the first time this year I have seen two fawns in the yard. And the first time they let me get any decent pictures. Actually, at first I could not see them this well, because they were behind one of the wildflower beds, but they moved, and I climbed on top of the picnic table, and so I could see them. If only that plant hanger wasn't there...

 They were a little shy, though, so they went into the woods, and I cautiously went to take a peek. I could hear their mother behind the bushes, but I couldn't see her. Eventually they ran off to join her...

 And moved off in another direction.

Backyard Bug of the Day:

 I don't know for sure, and of course my bug book is no help, but this might be a nymph of an assassin bug of some kind. At any rate, it is obviously a Hemiptera.

 I have posted pictures before showing the beautiful blue color of its back. Also note the interesting edges of its body.

 It wasn't particularly cooperative, marching all over the leaf as I was trying to take its picture.

 It is also hard to photograph because its odd body shape is hard to get in focus with a shallow depth of field.

I think it is the nymph of this bug. This is a picture I took yesterday and didn't post, because I had so much else to post yesterday.

I was very hard pressed to find a Backyard Bud of the Day, and this is what I came up with:

I think there is a bud there? I don't remember this plant, so I am anxious to see how it develops.

More interesting than the possible bud on the plant, though, is what I found crawling on it:

 Up until about a week ago I was completely unaware of the existence of lace bugs, and now I have found two different species living in my yard.

 These are so tiny that I would never have seen them if I had not been peering closely at the plant, trying to figure out what it was.

 When I noticed that there were tiny bugs on it, of course I had to try to get a picture, but I was quite surprised when I looked through the lens and saw that they were lace bugs, but a different species than the ones from before (which makes sense, because they are on a different food source, which is evidently a thing with lace bugs. Many species are 'host specific,' which means they have a specific food source, according to my book).

I found a couple of surprising things today:

 This is a common mullein plant. I have never seen one curled up like this, and I don't know if it did that on its own, or if it was pulled that way by something else. It doesn't seem like the kind of plant a bug could bend to its will, but what do I know about it? However, it also looks kind of... blighted.
Note also the bug at the bottom. I can't NOT take pictures of bugs.

 This is what seems to be only a portion of a paper wasps' nest, and what is interesting is that it is lying on the ground, instead of hanging from a tree. There were still a LOT of wasps coming and going. I assume that the wasp fell from a tree (though I could not spot anywhere it seemed to have come from). With so many agitated wasps flying around this was as close as I was willing to get to se what they were doing.

Arachnid Appreciation:
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Note that this spider has the thistle bud all tied up in webbing!