Little Things

The bugs were really bugging me today. I found one crawling on my neck when I was eating breakfast. One flew in my eye when I was out for a walk. I was swarmed by ladybugs and gnats when I did my bug walk in the afternoon. I don't like all bugs all the time.

I was up all night reading a book last night, and when I finished it I noticed that it was light outside, so I decided to go outside and do a dawn bug walk before going to sleep. I have done bug walks ridiculously early in the morning before, and sometimes they are quite successful, particularly because it's chilly, so the bugs don't want to move much. Well, this morning at dawn it was not chilly. I was surprised to walk outside and discover that it was warm outside. Now, this time of year warm become a relative term - I didn't look at the thermometer then, but I checked my weather sensor later, and the overnight low was in the low 60s, so that give me an idea at least of what it was around dawn. That's more like a July nighttime temperature (It reached almost 80ºF this afternoon). Anyway, it was not chilly, and I found very few bugs, unmoving or otherwise.

I did, however find a Backyard Bug of the Day:

 I have no idea what this is. It is really, really, really small. To give you an idea of how small this is, I took this picture as close as I could get with the camera, and it was still so small that I couldn't really tell if it was in focus. I could barely see it with my unaided eyes. Now, it was pretty dark out, because it was just after dawn, but this thing was just tiny. I couldn't tell what color it was, even. In the pictures it looks light-colored, but in reality it just looked that way when the light hit it certain ways. When it turned out of the light it was so dark it blended in with the dark surroundings (it is on the dead seed head of a coneflower plant, which is almost black).

 But look at the glorious way it reflects the light!

 I think there are two of them in this shot. The other is facing the camera head on, toward the lower part of the picture, almost in the middle.

 It's peculiar.

 Here's the above shot zoomed in.

It's hairy, too.

I have just decided, mid-blog, to make this next bug a Backyard Bug of the Day, too, so, Backyard Co-Bug of the Day #2:

 This is, I think, a Case Moth Caterpillar. These caterpillars build a little case out of silk and random plant matter. They can hid in it, and also it disguises them from predators. The drag it around with them when they move.

Click HERE to see it.

 In reality it looks like a caterpillar in a grass skirt.

 I found several of them on adjacent leaves of this plant. They were really small - kind of a theme for today's BBsotD.

 To get a sense of how small this is, note the fuzziness of the leaf, and compare the size of the caterpillar to the fuzz. Its legs are not as long as the fuzz. I am not sure if that is a helpful reference, but that's what I've got.

 They appear to have made their cases out of the fuzz from goldenrod flowers that have gone to seed, and also in this particular case out of a dried goldenrod bloom.

Speaking of flowers that have finished blooming:

Some of the asters curl up their petals after they are done blooming. It's charming.

I have a lot more Random Bugs than I thought...

I found this on my early morning walk...

 ... And this on my afternoon walk. It was in the same part of the yard, but not on the same plant. I wonder in such situations if I am seeing the same individual, or just another of the same species.

 I can usually count on finding a bumblebee asleep (or acting like it - do bumblebees sleep?) on an early morning bug walk.

 THIS is the bug I found crawling on the back of my neck while I was having breakfast. It was NOT a pleasant experience. After I flicked it off, I thought it was a spider, but it only has 6 legs, and has 3 body segments. I have never seen a bug like this creepy little thing. And if I ever do see one again, I hope I don't find it on my person!

 Nobody's home.

 Funny, little caterpillar feet.

 Where the leaf hoppers are hanging out.

 Woolly aphids don't quite get the subtleties of hide-and-seek.

 So many aphids...

Arachnid Appreciation:
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Based on the number of spider threads I walked through this morning I would have expected to find a lot of spiders, but I only found two.

 You can get an idea of the size of this spider from the fact that its prey is an aphid.