Early Bugs

Running so late... Ironically, what I wanted to talk about was doing a bug walk early. I have read various times that the key to getting good butterfly pictures is to take pictures early in the morning, while it's still cold, because the butterflies will be slow and sluggish - stationary, actually. All well and good, but I have never seen a butterfly just hanging around on a plant early in the morning (except for one that I had just released the night before after it eclosed in my house). But I did my bug walk much earlier today than I usually do, and the temperature was still in the 50s, so I was thinking about this morning butterfly idea. Well, I saw a couple of butterflies, and they were pretty sprightly and quick. So much for the early shutterbug gets the butterfly.

The early shutterbug does get the caterpillar, however.

Backyard Bug of the Day:

 I have tried to find out what kind of caterpillar this is, and the best I can come up with is that it might be (okay, probably is) a banded hairstreak caterpillar. It also might be a later instar (an instar is a phase it goes through as it grows. Caterpillars molt between each instar) of a caterpillar I posted last week, from this same plant (a small oak tree, slightly taller than I am), same general look, but it was all green last week. If this was the same one, that is. Caterpillars sometimes change their looks significantly from one instar to the next, so it's possible.

The fuzziness of it makes it look out of focus even when it's not. Sort of that soft focus that used to be used in romantic moments of old Hollywood movies.

 There were ants that crawled on it occasionally as I watched, and they didn't seem to be bothering it. In fact, from some cryptic things I read, they may be tending to it in some way, though I don't know how.

 You can just get a peek at its face here...

 And a good look at the prolegs.

 More of that handsome face.

Random Bugs:

 Another caterpillar. Of the kind that there are a million that look similar. So don't expect an identification.

A responsible blogger would put all of the caterpillar pictures together, but I am not that kind of blogger on most days, so...

Some bees...

 The playdate continues. I still can't tell if the bigger bugs are tending to or dining on the smaller bugs (or tending to them so they can dine on them - ants do it), but it now looks as if the smaller bugs are different ages/stages/sizes.

 I have recently developed an obsession with photographing dandelions, and I happened to noticed that this one had a tiny beetle on it. It also had something else on it, but that will appear later, at a time when it will be better appreciated.

 This is an arachnid, but not one I appreciate, so I am putting it here. This is a tick.

 I decided to test the efficacy of my tick repellent pants, and put the tick on them. It crawled about an inch, and seemed to maybe be probing the pants with its mouthparts (but I am not positive of that), then it crawled a bit more and tumbled off. I don't know if it fell off because it lost its grip, or if it let go on purpose. Ticks are made to cling to things, but I really can't assume. Next time I will test it with a horizontal surface.

 A forest tent caterpillar climbing up the side of the house.

 On a day when I didn't find that caterpillar to be Backyard Bug of the Day this beetle would surely have been chosen. It's gorgeous, and I have never seen it before. Hmmm... Okay, I have just declared this Backyard Co-Bug of the Day #2. The caterpillar is Backyard Co-Bug of the Day #1. Unless I find this beetle again, and then it will be BBotD on its own, and we can forget this ever happened.

 I don't know what this is, but it appears to be immature (undeveloped wings) and some sort of Hemiptera, that may or may not be poking me with its proboscis. It's very small, I couldn't really tell. That is to say, I didn't feel it, but it does look like it.

More than the usual number of pictures for Arachnid Appreciation: 
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 As I said earlier, the tiny beetle was not alone on the dandelion, there was a spider there, too. More precisely, there was a spider inside the dandelion.

Tiny jumping spider

 This spider is shy.