My Sky

Most nights I spend a couple of minutes out on the back porch looking at the sky. Because I stand on the porch, instead of walking out into the yard, the view is circumscribed, bounded by the sides and roof of the porch and the trees in the backyard. I think of that portion of the sky that I can see as my piece of sky. Nobody else in the whole world is seeing the sky exactly the way I am seeing it - except on the rare occasions when I call my husband outside to see something, and even then, I don't think he sees it the same way I do. My sky is in the north, and it contains Polaris - the North Star, and also the Big Dipper (which, I am told, is not really a constellation, because it is actually part of Ursa Major, the Great Bear, but I don't care, for me it is one) and Cassiopeia. I know very few constellations, but I know those, and because they are far to the north, they are visible year round, circling around the north star and never setting, though sometimes the big dipper is partly obscured by the treeline when I am out there. I'll go out on cloudy nights, but obviously clear nights are the best, because I can see the stars. It's a great night when I see a shooting star, which you can see on any given night, it doesn't have to be during a meteor shower, but nowadays it's pretty rare for me to see one. My sky is not as dark as it was when we first built our house 11 years ago - there is a mall to the north of us now. One night last week I saw two shooting stars, which was amazing. I have seen the Aurora Borealis four times from our yard - five if you count the night that there were thick clouds that were a bright, fiery red, and I found out the next day that there had been an Aurora that was seen all the way to South Carolina. I know that had to be the reason the clouds were aflame that night - I have never seen the sky look like that at any other time. I don't turn on the porch light when I am out there, but sometimes the light from inside the house spills out the door, and on occasion I can see it reflected in the eyes of an animal, sitting out in the darkness, watching me. It always seems a bit unfair that they can probably see me pretty well, with their night vision, but I can only see those points of light that tell me that something is there. Sometimes I will see, just barely, a bird fly past; I assume that these are owls, but I think that only because they are large birds flying at night, not because I can see any owlish details about them. Their silent flight is another clue. While I am outside mostly to look, I listen, too. Sometimes I hear owls hooting. Sometimes I hear other animals, wild, strange sounds that I can't even describe. I hear birds on occasion, too. But mostly what I hear in the night, in the summer, at least, is insects. It was chilly again today, and it's cold out tonight, but there are still insects singing in the dark. Not as many as there would be if it was a warm night, but way more than one lone cricket. I am not good at identifying insect sounds (or any sounds, really), but there was at least one katydid, some crickets, and other things. I was surprised to see the stars tonight, because there was heavy cloud cover all day, but it cleared up some time after it got dark. It is a beautiful night.

Today wasn't so grand. It was much nicer than yesterday - it was only dark and cold, not dark, cold and rainy, at least by the time I went outside (three days of drizzly rain, and we got barely more than a quarter inch). Everything was still wet, but there were fewer slugs than there were the last couple of days, so that was a plus. It was not a stellar day of bug hunting, but I found two bugs that I could not choose between for Backyard Bug of the Day, so I can't complain... much.

Backyard Co-Bug of the Day #1:

 I am guessing immature stinkbug, from the shape, size, and pattern. Also, the lack of wing development.

 At any rate, it's a Hemiptera of some kind. Check out that proboscis.

Not a good picture, but you can see the tip of the proboscis.

 Very cooperative.

Backyard Co-Bug of the Day #2:

 Some kind of leafhopper. It is similar to one from a few days ago, but the pattern and colors are different.

 I never would have seen this if it had not flown right in front of my face on its way to land on this tree trunk.

Random Bugs:

 For today's edition of Is That a Dried Leaf, or a Bug? we have a grasshopper!

 I often look at bugs' eyes and think they are weird, but when you think about the fact that there are WAAAAAAAY more bugs on the planet than humans, their weird eyes are actually the norm, and our eyes are the ones that are weird.

 I think this is a sawfly. A female, with an ovipositor. But it would be a wasp, with a really long stinger. Or a female wasp with an ovipositor.

 The sawfly/wasp above and this ladybug here are both on mint plants, which is funny because a friend posted something on facebook today about using peppermint oil to repel mice and spiders. Well, it certainly doesn't work on sawflies or ladybugs. Of course, this is chocolate mint (yes, that's a thing) and not peppermint, so maybe that makes a difference. All I know is, it smells great when I am mowing the lawn and I mow over the plants that are trying to colonize the lawn.

 Same plant from the last two days. One bee has moved on. The other two are much more active than they were.

 It looks like this assassin (I think) bug has a tiny mite on its head.

 Sharpshooter

 I found this caterpillar that looks like a White Hickory Tussock Moth Caterpillar, except... it's not white. I don't know if it's a different caterpillar that looks the same, but gray, or if this is a WHTMC that is undergoing some kind of change (some other caterpillars change color before the chrysalize), though it would be weird for the hair to change color, or if it is ill. I'll keep an eye on it if it's in the same spot tomorrow.

 Snowy Tree Cricket. On my monopod. Very funny, cricket, but I can detach the camera and take your picture anyway.

 This was another BBotD candidate. Another immature stink bug, I think.

 Here's the caterpillar from a few days ago - a better look at its pink legs.

Arachnid Appreciation:
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.

 An uncooperative, but attractive, jumping spider.

 This looks like it's a MUCH larger version of the small spiders I have taken pictures of lately, like the one the last couple of days with the leaf stuck to its web. Note in the lower left corner, that is my finger. I was holding the plant steady so I could get the picture. I felt very, VERY brave putting my fingers an inch away from this spider.

 Today this spider was not actually holding onto the egg case, but she was still nearby, like she is guarding it. There does look like there's a tiny hole in the egg case, though.