The Bugs in the Backyard: Loopy

I have read a few articles about taking pictures of bugs, an in particular I would like to mention what I have read about taking pictures of butterflies. It's not easy taking pictures of butterflies, because they don't sit still very often. But pretty much everything I have ever read about taking pictures of butterflies says that the best time to do it is very early in the morning when they are cold, and therefore more likely to not be moving. I have read that about dragonflies, too. There is a slight flaw in that plan, however, which is the assumption that you can just go outside in the early morning and easily find butterflies just sitting around. While I usually do my bug walks in the afternoon, I occasionally do one in the morning, sometimes the very early morning, and only once have I ever found a butterfly just sitting around in my yard, and that was a monarch butterfly I had just released myself after it eclosed in my dining room the night before. I released it on a chilly evening, and it chose not to fly anywhere in the dark. That's it. That is the only time I have ever seen a butterfly in my yard in the morning.

I was thinking about this splendid advice for taking pictures of butterflies this morning when I was out doing my first bug walk of the day. I was going to be out all day, so I needed to at least do a quick bug walk before I left, in case I didn't get back before dark. I didn't have much time, and I didn't find much. Certainly no butterflies. And it occurred to me that I don't even remember the last time I saw a butterfly in my backyard. It has been weeks - perhaps even a couple of months. Add butterflies to the list of bugs I have not seen as many of this year.

I don't know what the temperature was when I went out this morning, but I checked my weather sensor later to find out what the low had been last night, and it was a nearly freezing 33.4ºF. Almost frost. It was very dewy out in the backyard in the morning, that's for sure.

Bugs covered in dew are just as cute as bugs covered in raindrops:

Needless to say, I didn't find very many bugs when I went for that morning bug walk. I didn't find many on my evening bug walk, either, but I did find a Backyard Bug of the Day:

I posted a teaser of this the other day - a close up of an eye. And the day before that I posted some pictures of this kind of bug. It's some kind of fly, but I haven't looked it up yet.

Very black.

Annoyingly hard to take pictures of.

Here's another zoomed-in eye picture, so you can see that lovely compound lens.

Daily Dandelion:

A bit bedraggled.

Milkweed, because I am still obsessed:

So, where was I today that I couldn't keep my usual bug walking routine? I went to the Connecticut Renaissance Faire. And being me, I couldn't help but find bugs. I know that the deal with the blog is that it's bugs from my backyard, but I am going to post a couple of guest bugs, Renaissance Faire Bugs of the Day:

Get your own water bottle.

This was an interesting view for me. While waiting for one of the shows to start near the end of the day, when the sun had just dropped below the top of the stage, I noticed a huge number of tiny bugs flying around up in the air. I am pretty sure that the only reason I could see them was because of the way the light was - the sun was lighting the bugs, but it was shaded from dazzling my eyes by the stage. Otherwise the bugs would have been invisible even if I was looking up there. Another thing I could see, that I know I would never have seen otherwise, was spider silk threads wafting in the air. It was really weird and amazing to see. I guess it makes sense that there is spider silk floating in the air, but you don't see it, unless there is a perfect lighting moment.

I have been saying that the looper caterpillars in my backyard are ubiquitous. Well, today there were more than ever. Here's the proof of their ubiquity:

This looper (presuming it's the same one) is still hanging out on the deer netting. It's been there for a few days. I don't know if it's lost and confused, or if it's dining on the leftover egg cases of those other caterpillars that hatched there. Or maybe eating unhatched eggs? Anyway, it was demonstrating why it's called a looper.

It's pretty rare for me to get a good shot of the looper face when it's on a plant, but apparently it's easier when it's on deer netting, as seen here.

So here's a few zoomed in shots:

Face and legs in this shot.

Rear legs holding on. Loopers only have two pairs of prolegs, and they are at the back end of the body; they don't have any in the middle like other caterpillars.

These have all been from the morning bug walk...

And these are from the evening:

It's really unusual for me to see one of these on the leaf of a plant, and all stretched out like this. Usually they are on flowers or hanging upside down from a plant.

The head end is on the right.

Speaking of caterpillars...

It has to be embarrassing when you think you're so tough because you have venomous spines, and then you get a piece of your own frass stuck on one of them. It seems to me that caterpillars should perhaps only excrete frass when they are not facing downward...

Random Bugs: