The Bugs in the Backyard: Go Outside

You can read about nature, or you can go outside and watch it. Reading about it is definitely interesting, and in the case of nature in places that are far away, reading about it, or watching videos about it, I suppose, may be the only option, and will at least have to suffice. But if you have some nature nearby, I suggest going outside to watch it, because that is so much better, and you might see something that you didn't read about. And it might be more interesting than what you read about. Or more comical (You don't find a lot of nature writing that focuses on the ongoing comedy out in the wilds. I guess that is reserved for gifs on the internet).

Having said that, if it's raining right now, or night time, or for some reason you are unable to go outside and watch some nature, you can check out an amusing nature event I saw today in the backyard. I made a video of it. Click HERE to watch LadyBug! The Great Aphid Hunter.

I am not 100% in charity with nature at the moment, because I somehow seem to have gotten poison ivy. On my neck. I am in a bit of an itchy rage. But that did not keep me from going outside to enjoy the non-poison ivy aspects of nature today (though it did keep me from going dancing last night, and I am feeling quite put out about it. Stupid poison ivy).

For reasons I don't feel like explaining there are Co-Bugs again today.

Backyard Co-Bug of the Day #1:

An aphid, I think. It's blue!

I think this is a hoverfly. My bug books have confused me on this matter.

Aphids are taking over the backyard lately. They are everywhere. You'd think after that swarm of ladybugs that took place this week there'd be fewer aphids, but nope. The ladybugs were completely focused on trying to find a way into my house - I mean, trying to find a place to spend the winter - and not on eating. Considering how warm it was this week they should probably have enjoyed the weather and the aphid bonanza, and put of hunkering down for the cold weather until next week, but that's not what they did.

Here's what the aphids are up to:

With all the aphids I have been seeing lately, I have seen them in these two colors, and I assumed that they were two different species of aphids that just hung out in the same areas, but now it appears that the color differences are gender based. These two were not bothered at first by all of the other aphids that were walking past, but...

Eventually the aphid on the bottom got agitated and started chasing off the aphids that came near.

There has been a constant parade of aphids back and forth on the lawn chairs for days. I don't know what to make of it.

If the aphids fail to take over the world, the case moth caterpillars will be in line to try:

These are all over the place all of a sudden. Well, mostly on the goldenrod, where they are presumably getting materials for their cases. It funny, I think I saw one of these in a past year, and this year they are all over. Because they are so small, and so well camouflaged, I mostly spot them by movement - I see the wiggling cases. At one point I was looking at a plant that had at least twenty of them moving around on it. It's a bit like that part in Macbeth when the forest is moving... only with less disastrous results.

Remember how I said a few days ago they look like caterpillars in grass skirts? Well, when they hang from their silk threads and wiggle around, they really do look like they are dancing the hula.

Woolly bear.

The rows of fuzz are not very tightly packed, and its skin is visible in between. Maybe that means a warm winter? (HA!).

I took this picture because I think this clematis seed head looks like a face, and then I noticed the bug on it.

I found another one of those weird, transparent caterpillarish things. This one was less transparent than the first one I saw, and more transparent than the one yesterday. Still pulsing inside.

Cricket

Its interesting to me that the deer netting around the blueberry bush is a much more active location for bugs than the blueberry bush.

This dandelion was very popular. I think you can only see two here, but there were at least 4 bugs on it.

You know what's hard to do? Take a picture of bugs on your sleeve. These are the ones that I said would be taking over soon. I have never noticed before the striking difference between the male and the female of the species. I don't know which is which, but one has bigger eyes and a bigger head, and the front legs are a different color.

I spotted this candy striped leaf hopper, and noticed that it was shooting out droplets of honeydew at a rapid pace. I tried to get a picture of it, but it was not shooting them in a rhythm, so I couldn't get the timing...

Got the droplet, but the bug is out of focus...

The bug is in focus and you can just see the droplet zooming out of the edge of the picture...

I think this is the last we're going to see of the Saddleback caterpillar. It was on its way down the stem of the plant when I saw it, nearly to the bottom, and when I checked back later, it was gone. Given that there were still leaves on its plant that it could have eaten, I would guess it has gone off to find a place to pupate over the winter.

Fun fact I just learned when I looked up the Saddleback's pupation habits: it weaves its spines into its cocoon, so you can get a nasty surprise if you touch it. It's not clear to me if you just get pricked, or if the spines can actually envenomate, but either way, OUCH!