The Bugs in the Backyard: The Good, the Bad, and the Itchy

I think I saw a tree swallow today. We used to have tree swallows around all the time, but I haven't seen any in years. I wonder about things like that. The habitat of our backyard has changed over the 16 years since we bought the land, mostly because the field behind our property is no longer a field, but full of trees (mostly invasive autumn olive, unfortunately) and brambles (invasive multiflora rose), so it is possible that it is no longer the habitat that the tree swallows like. But it is also possible that something has happened to the tree swallows. I don't know. I am not an ornithologist, and the extent of my study of the issue is to think, hmmm... we never have tree swallows anymore. We also don't have bats anymore, or at least I only see them very rarely, when we used to have several flying around, eating mosquitoes, every evening. And everyone knows that there is a problem with the bats, a fungal illness or something. So you can see why I would be concerned about not seeing tree swallows, or orioles, or bluebirds (I know our backyard is no longer bluebird-type habitat).

There's so much labeling in the natural world of good or bad. That is to say, people label things in the natural world. A lot of people hate spiders, and label them as bad, gross, horrible, scary, but spiders eat a lot of insects that people also hate. Spiders almost never bite people; mosquitoes do, and they carry diseases that can be fatal. That makes spiders good in my books. I hate poison ivy, but supposedly it has berries (I have never, ever, ever seen a poison ivy plant with either flowers or fruit on it, and not just because I kill the poison ivy in my yard. I have never seen this ever) that are eaten by birds; I like birds. The birds that eat the berries would certainly consider poison ivy a good, but even though it feeds the birds, which I like, I can't see it as good when it's in my environment. When I read up about the insects I find, I will often find that they are described as harmful, or pests, or destructive - not just invasive insects, but native ones that maybe eat crops or the flowers in people's yards. But when an insect is in its natural environment, it seems a little bit unfair to say it is bad (except mosquitoes). When I was looking up jumping spiders yesterday a lot of the links that came up in my search were about how to eradicate them, both inside and outside your house. Okay, I can see why you wouldn't want a lot of spiders in your house, but why in the world would you be trying to kill the spiders that live outside your house? Is it really a problem for you if there are spiders in the bushes? Are you crawling around in the bushes? I was in the garden section of a home center recently and saw a package of insecticide that was being touted for use on lawns, and I don't remember the number, but the packaging boasted of the number of insect species it would kill on your lawn if you sprinkled this toxin all over it (It was something like 70 or 80 species, I think). It listed some of the insects, and my main thought was that if you just left well enough alone, a lot of the insects that would be killed by pouring poison into the environment would spend their lives killing and eating a lot of the other insects that the insecticide would target, so why not just let nature do its thing? A lot of things would be killed that are completely harmless to human beings, their property, and everything else in the world. And why? From what I can see, most people only spend time in their yards when they are mowing the grass, what difference does it make if there are bugs crawling around under it? Really, there's not much out there that's going to harm you. Why not just leave it alone, or better yet, appreciate it, even down to the tiniest thing, for the marvel that it is?

Except mosquitoes. And poison ivy. And ticks. Those can go.

No, wait. See, I am just as bad as the people who hate spiders on principle. Not all species of mosquitoes even bite people. And it's only the females who bite, which they only do because there's something in blood that they need to be able to lay eggs (I don't remember what. I read this a long while ago). That's not to say I won't smack any mosquito that tries to bite me, but still.

Also, I killed the two (TWO!) gnats that bit me on the back of my knees today. I don't know why that was suddenly a thing...

Anyway, I am not sure I have a point. Except to say that nature has no evil intent. It is not good or bad. It just is.

Speaking of good and evil, I give you Backyard Bug of the Day:

This is a Banded-wing Thrips. Thrips is singular. This is a really tiny bug - about 1/16". And so elegant, yet whimsical, with its black and white polka dot look. Although my bug book says it's dark gray. Whatever, it looks black to me.

The book says that some species of thrips are bad, because they eat crops, but others are good, because they eat other "pests," like mites and small insects (they'd have to be extremely small to be preyed on by this tiny thing). This is one of the good kinds.

It is possible that some of those other specks on this leaf are young thrips, I can't tell.

And yes, that is a photo-bombing lace bug on the right.

Larvae are still all over the place in the backyard. I think in today's case they are all caterpillars (meaning the larvae of lepidoptera - butterflies and moths):

The blob of supposed tent caterpillars has gotten smaller, even though the caterpillars have gotten bigger.

Here's the branch where they were all hanging out yesterday. Looks like they all moulted again. Notice the leaves they have eaten.

I was looking up yesterday's BBotD in a caterpillar book and found something that looks like this caterpillar (which I posted a picture of a couple of days ago). I was psyched to find it, because that meant I knew what this was - a copper. But then I noticed another caterpillar that looks like it, too - another copper. There were several coppers with caterpillars that look like this. Then I turned a few pages, and found more caterpillars that look like this - hairstreak caterpillars. I have seen a couple of species of coppers, and several species of hairstreaks in my yard at various times over the years. So this could be any one of those - or something else entirely. Sigh. Well, it's a caterpillar.

Same one. It is no longer sharing a leaf with that other, red caterpillar.

Yesterday's BBotD, which I am still assuming is some sort of caterpillar, having not found out what it is through my research. Here you can just barely see the head...

... and here it is clamped down to the leaf. It is impossible not to try to imagine what's going on inside there, because this looks like it stands on its head.

While we are on the subject of lepidoptera, and things that look like bird poop or other random detritus, I was thinking about such disguises today, and while I was actually in the process of thinking about this, I almost put my hand down on this:

It looks more obvious in the picture than it did in real life. At first it looked like just a bump on the tree, but then I thought it looked like bird poop. Then I realized, when I wasn't paying attention and almost put my hand on it, and it moved, it is...

... a moth. Funny how moths that look like bird poop are really quite pretty when you look at them up close.

Speaking of moths, as I write this there is one that keeps bashing against the window screen...

Mostly beetles and bees today for Random Bugs:

Well, and one fly.

This is the most cooperative bee ever.

Love the pollen pants (Note: this is a term I made up. It is not an actual entomological or apicultural term).

Close up of the pollen on the bee's legs and underside. I feel thankful to the bee for gathering so much of it and taking it out of my way.

This is a different bee. Only slightly less cooperative, in that it sat still for me, but it was on a plant that moved in the annoyingly continuous wind, so that takes it down a notch.