The Bugs in the Backyard: Milestone

It finally happened! After twelve years of waiting, I finally saw a hummingbird drinking from one of my hummingbird feeders! I didn't get a picture, because it happened when I was sticking my head out the window to find out what the weather was like, so you'll just have to trust me that it happened. I don't know why I feel so validated by this - I see hummingbirds frequently in the summer, and they feed from the plants in some of my garden beds, which is probably better anyway. But if I am going to go to the effort to deal with feeders, I want the birds to appreciate it! I don't make food for just anyone!

In other I-can't-prove-it bird news, I heard an owl when I was out on the back porch tonight looking at the sky. I love that I live somewhere where I can hear owls (and sometimes see them) when I stand on my back porch at night.

And speaking of the back porch at night, here's a scene from last night:

Eyes...

I know it's hard to see, but this is a bright as I can get it - raccoon. Eating cereal.

One of my favorite things about spring is happening this week:

The crab apples are blooming.

I can't NOT take a picture of a bug. They photobomb me flower photos.

There are two crab apple trees in the backyard that I planted, but there are two others that nature planted.

Dandelions are charming throughout their life cycle:

Backyard Bug of the Day:

I haven't figured out what this is yet. It sort of looks like a beetle (well, not really), but it sort of looks like an ant, or a bee without wings (ants, bees, and wasps are related, apparently. They are all in the order Hymenoptera) . I don't even know where to look it up in my books, but I am currently checking the Coleoptera (beetle) sections... AHA! It is a velvet ant! Which is actually a species of wasp! According to my books, the velvet ant female is wingless, and the male has wings, so this is a female. There is one species that has a reputation of having a sting so terribly painful it can kill cattle (the picture looks sort of like this one...), and is therefore called the Cow Killer. This, according to one of my books, is not true. Whew. Also, now that I look at all of this, I think those reddish bee/wasps that I finally got pictures of the other day may be the male of this insect.You know, looking up bugs to identify them is a little bit like looking up how to spell a word you have no idea how to spell. You have to know something about it at least to know where to find out what it is. I'm getting better at it, but still I mostly stink.

Note that once again this is a bug on the ground. And a terribly uncooperative one, that moved fast, and kept scurrying under things. Given the fact that these sting, I should probably not have been putting my fingers near it to remove obstructions to my view. I should be more cautious...

I can see why this is called a velvet ant.

Back into hiding...

I zoomed in one shot to look closer, and found it interesting that the ground is covered with spider webbing.

Backyard Bug Behavior:

It may seem weird that I sometimes post pictures of insects mating, but I do that because I like to show insects doing what they do, and mating is part of it. Other than flying and eating, I rarely find a bug doing something else interesting. Today I encountered what is a really rare sight for me - a ladybug laying eggs.

More Backyard Bug Behavior:

I don't know what this ant was concentrating on in the fold of this leaf, but it was waggling its abdomen up and down while it was doing it.

I wonder what's in that hole... I like the heart shaped abdomen of these ants.

For a while there I thought the reason I couldn't find many bugs in the backyard was because the spiders were getting them. Now I think it's the ants. Also I am noticing that while ants may be as strong as reputed, and able to carry things that are heavy compared to them, they are kind of clumsy and awkward about it, and bash into things (like blades of grass) a lot. They are constantly needing to put things down to adjust their grip.

Another bug photobomb. I was taking a picture of just the dandelion (and again didn't notice the bug until I looked a the picture on the computer. When I focus, I am focused).

This is a gorgeous insect.

Butterfly!!! Some sort of hairstreak, I think. Obviously I didn't get a great look at it. The dorsal side of the wings was blue, so I really wished I'd been able to get a shot of them, but hairstreaks don't really let you see that part.

A gnat NOT flying around my head!

By the way, I happened to see that they do a Bioblitz every year at Acadia National Park in Maine. This year they are focusing on wasps, bees, ants (in other words, Hymenoptera), centipedes and millipedes (definitely not Hymenoptera). It sounds cool, but no, I have no intention of going to this. I am just excited to know that they do it, because I think the whole concept of Bioblitz is wonderful. The Bioblitzes they used to do at parks in CT looked for all species, but it appears at Acadia they focus more narrowly, and look for different things every year. In fact, they have done insects or arachnids every year. That kind of makes sense. You're not going to find an impressive number of mammal species on an island. And the Bioblitzes here always had WAAAAAAY more insect species than anything else. Here's the information about it, if you want to know what it's about, or if you want to go help count ants: Click HERE to read about Bioblitz at Acadia National Park

Here's another picture of The Enemy:

This is a dog tick, not a deer tick, but last I heard they could spread disease, too. This picture was taken on the door of my house. On. The Door. Of. My. HOUSE! Little creep was trying to get in! This is definitely an arachnid I don't appreciate.

And now for those that I do - Arachnid Appreciation:
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