I took too many pictures today, so it took forever to go through them, and now this is going to take forever to load, so no time for chit chat! Gotta get on with the bugs!
But first:
NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! I don't know what you're doing here, autumn leaf, but I am going to pretend I didn't see you. Summer just started officially two days ago! You are not welcome here!
Backyard Bird of the Day:
Cedar waxwing
Just kidding. I mean, yes, I think it's a cedar waxwing, but the above picture was just silliness. Except that's what most of the pictures turned out looking like. The bird was doing some serious grooming. But I finally got one of it just looking around.
Can you see the hummingbird in this picture?
Today was hot and humid, and if I did not have a pressing schedule I would not have gone out to do my bug walk when I did, because it was gross to be outside. But it's a good thing I did, because I did my bug walk, then mowed the lawn, then went inside and took a shower, and as soon as I finished my shower we had a crazily strong thunderstorm, with hail, high winds, and half an inch of rain in a half hour. I didn't go outside after it ended to have a look around, but I will be interested to see what kind of damage was done, because my husband had to try several different routes to get home from work, because he kept encountering trees fallen across roads. If I had been able to wait for a cooler time of day, with more shade, the bug walk (or at least the lawn mowing), would not have taken place. The lawn mowing is part of why I have so many pictures - it's an hour and a half extra that I spent outside, and I frequently abandon the mower to get my camera (which I set on the back porch while mowing) to take pictures of the bugs I see while mowing.
Okay, I just lost my internet for about an hour, so I am really behind here...
Backyard Bug of the Day:
This caterpillar looks like it was made by a toddler out of leftover parts from a caterpillar making kit. In actuality it is a white marked tussock moth caterpillar. Another case of a flamboyant caterpillar that turns into an unremarkable brown moth. According to my reading, the female is flightless, and spends her who adult life in the vicinity of her cocoon, on which she lays her 300 or so eggs in a mass of foam.
Caterpillar Close-ups:
It has venomous spines - I am not sure if it's all over, or just the ones sticking out the back. My policy is to not touch caterpillars, because you never know... (I did more reading. It's the ones on its back).
A bit of weirdness:
I don't know if these bubbles and that larva/nymphish thing under that cottony cover are related. The bubbles I assume are hiding a spittle bug nymph, which is not what that white thing is, I don't think. So, it's a mystery to me.
Remember those eggs I found on the picnic umbrella? They have changed color - or rather, the things inside have probably done the changing, and are visible through the egg. I think this means they will hatch soon.
Who's On the Milkweed Today?
Ants dominated a lot of the plants.
Like so.
I sometimes wonder if bugs have something to do with people's stories of alien encounters...
Lots of plume moths, too:
They are ubiquitous in the yard at the moment, but especially on the milkweed.
(Note there's also an ant).
There are four in this picture. Plume moths, that is.
Slightly closer look, in which you can see only 3 of them.
A skipper
Red milkweed beetles like to give each other backrubs.
Random Bugs:
Sawfly larva, or tiny alien baby?
Remember that bug yesterday that I thought was about to moult? This is what I think is the non-moulting version.
You can't tell from this picture, but this is a really small long-legged fly. Which is saying something, because long-legged flies are already quite small.
Here's another, not as small, and with patterned wings.
Another ubiquitous plume moth (ubiquitous being my descriptor, not the name of the moth).
Side view, showing the curve of the body.
The head is at the bottom of the picture.
Green lacewing
One of the coolest bugs ever. It is the nymph of some sort of hopper, but I don't know what species.
I think this is an immature tree cricket of some kind.
This wasp is living in the garden shed, right in the doorway. I am surprised that my husband has allowed it to stay there. If you look at the cell where its right antenna is pointing, there was a larva in there that I could see moving around.
Katydid. Most people would figure that crawling on the wheel of the lawnmower is not the best way to avoid being run over by it, but it took me a while to convince this critter.
I finally had to move it out of the way.
Baby grasshopper - about 1/4 inch long.
Arachnid Appreciation:
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Crab spider
This jumping spider has caught a hopper of some kind (on a milkweed plant), and apparently the hopper was still alive at this point - you can see that it is excreting a drop of honeydew (sadly for the hopper, unlike many other insects, like ants, the spider is not just interested in its honeydew.
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