What's Out There?

July 11, 2014

They say that if you took a giant balance, and put all the insects in the world on one side, and put all the people in the world on the other side, the insects would outweigh the people. I wonder if you took a smaller balance, and put the bugs in my yard on one side, and me on the other, which would be heavier?

Probably me, but there sure are a lot of bugs out there. It's an interesting thing to ponder when you're sitting outside; how many living things are swarming around you that you don't notice, and never see? How many things are out there that I don't see, even though I am actively looking for them? Even if you discount anything hiding under a rock, or a rotting log, or places I can't get to, like under the porch, there are probably hundreds of bugs that I just walk right past everyday, even though I am trying to find them. I am not looking underneath ever leaf. A lot of things I only find because they happened to move, and that movement caught my eye. Most of the time I just feel like I got lucky.

Sometimes I can get too lucky, if there is such a thing, and then I have to choose which bug to use, and it's hard to do. Today I managed to talk myself out of having three Backyard Bugs of the Day, but I didn't convince myself not to have two, because both of the bugs I chose are nymphs or larvae of some kind, and that means their current states are fleeting, so maybe I won't get to see them again.

Or so I am telling myself.

Backyard Co-Bug of the Day #1:

I am only guessing that this is a larva of something. In shape it is similar to the ladybug larvae. Naturally I have no idea what this will become; my bug guides are not comprehensive enough to even show all the bugs I find in the yard, much less the larval stages of them all.

Okay, I haven't actually looked this up, but in general, the books are inadequate, which is why I usually don't bother looking things up. I am just saying, this looks like a larva.

Backyard Co-Bug of the Day #2:

 This, I believe, is the nymph of some kind of assassin bug.

There's not much else to say about it, because all you have to do is look at that spiky behind yourself to feel glad that you are not a tiny bug who meets this one on a leaf.

Backyard Bud of the Day:

 I don't know what this is, but I can't help but think that there is garlic somewhere in its family tree.

The fourth of the caterpillars from the other day was gone today, but it is possible that it is in here:

The other caterpillar that was in a curled up leaf of that tree yesterday was no longer there. The backyard is full of mysteries and stories unfinished.

Speaking of mysteries, this afternoon I saw this:

 Some sort of bee or wasp sitting on a leaf. Its wings look kind of messed up, but I didn't think too much of it.

But hours later, in the evening, it was still there, and I noticed that it seems to be stuck onto the leaf on its backside. I have no idea what's going on there. I didn't know if it was in distress, and not wanting to be stuck, or if it is undergoing some sort of normal process, or what. My best guess is that it is a gall wasp, laying eggs in the leaf (which means, technically, that it is incorrect to say I have no idea, because I have an idea, I just don't know for sure).

I've got a few Bonus Bugs for you today:

 Ladybug

 Red aphid?

 Bee on sumac flowers

Dragonfly

Moths in the wild:

I am sorry to say it, but this has to be the most boring moth in the entire world. I wonder what its caterpillar looks like...

Baby wrens looking fuzzy:

The one in the back isn't fuzzy yet, though - they weren't all hatched on the same day, so some of them seem to have an advantage. Unlike the wrens in the birdhouse, I don't see the parent birds coming and going all the time, and they don't chirp madly at me when I am in that area of the yard, so I worry about these little birds.

Back porch plant's leaves are looking lovely:

The picture doesn't do it justice - in person it's kind of coppery.

Back porch plant is where I found today's spider for Arachnid Appreciation:
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Now, go out in your backyard and ponder whatever it is that you are not seeing.