Up, Up, and Away?

I had a dream once that I could fly. It was the most vivid, beautiful, wonderful, realistic-feeling dream I have ever had (aside from the part that I could fly. That is obviously not real. But it was entirely real in the dream). There's no need to look to Freud for an interpretation of it; I know exactly why I had that dream that night. I had just watched a PBS documentary about raptors, specifically the way they fly. It was a ground-breaking production at the time, using fancy new cameras that were able to record angles and actions that had previously been impossible to capture. And it was incredible. I watched it in awe of the grace and power of the birds, and my constant thought throughout the program was that I wish I could fly. It's usually what I say I would choose when someone asks me what superpower I would want. So, I went to bed that night and dreamed oh, so vividly, that I could. I was disappointed to wake up that morning.

Two things happened today in the backyard that reminded me of that dream. The first was that I saw a moth crash land. It was a plume moth, which looks like a little airplane (I didn't get a picture because this happened while I was mowing the lawn), and being a moth, you'd think it would be able to fly quite well, but I think a gust of wind hit it the wrong way and it crashed. It wasn't hurt, it kind of shook itself and looked around to see if anyone saw what happened (okay, I may be projecting on that last bit), and eventually flew away. And it got me thinking about all of the various things I have seen fly, and how some of them are really quite awkward about it. I thought about my flying dream, and how graceful and skilled I was in my dream and realized that if I could fly, I'd probably be a dork about it, and crash land like that moth. After all, when I ice skate I can only stop by crashing into something; I suspect I would be equally awkward in the air. I have seen many a bug and bird make terribly awkward landings.

Later on I was inside and went to the back door to look out, as I do about a hundred times a day. I looked up at the sky and saw a bird way, way up in the air, flying, but not so much flying as sitting motionless in the sky. It was a hawk, wings outstretched on the invisible currents of air, and it was motionless way up there. This was not an illusion; I watched the bird through the lattice of branches on a dead tree, and in the triangle of space that framed the soaring hawk I had a perfect reference point to see that it was absolutely still in the air. I have never seen anything like this. I watched it there for over a minute, not moving from that spot in the sky. I contemplated getting my camera, but I figured I wouldn't have time, because it was so high up I would need to change to the zoom lens, and I didn't think it was possible that the bird would stay, but eventually I did go get the camera and go outside. The bird had moved, but not much, and it stayed in that new spot for a while, too. Eventually it moved quite a bit, but again it found a new spot on the currents and then stopped. It was incredible. Finally after several minutes of watching this, the bird moved off, slowly. Never once in all of that time did it flap its wings, even when it went away. It shifted them a bit, and opened out its tail feathers, but it did not flap. Through the zoom lens of the camera I could see that it was moving its head side to side, looking for prey, I imagine. I am sure it could see me. With those great hawk eyes it could probably see the shutter opening and closing on the camera.

 Ah, it's a red tailed hawk. About the only raptor other than the American Bald Eagle that I can identify.

 This is before it spread its tail out so I could see the color.

 The whippersnappers on the porch

 I decided to take a position with my telephoto lens to try to get a picture of the parents feeding the youngsters. I waited a very long time. One of the parents was in a tree nearby, keeping an eye on the kids - and on me, I think. After about fifteen minutes I saw movement on the nest at least - one of the babies poked its head up.

 It moved around a bit, stretched its wings, probably sat on its sibling. It's really crowded in the nest now.

 Finally, after I waited there for a half hour, one of the parents decided that I wasn't going away, and wasn't a threat. You can see it gives me the stinkeye, though.

 Feeding the babies

More stinkeye. It flew away, and so did I. Metaphorically on my part. As you know, I cannot fly.

Backyard Bug of the Day:

 Assassin Bug. There are numerous species of assassin bugs, in case you are wondering why this looks different from the ones I have posted recently.

 It appears to have a hopper nymph for lunch. You can see the proboscis of the Hemiptera is inserted in its prey.

 I found another one nearby.

Stray elytron. I wonder what happened to its owner...

Random Bugs:

 Remember this critter? I still don't know what it is, but I have tried to figure it out.

 Honeysuckle borers on honeysuckle

 Some other kind of borer on goldenrod

Ladybug larva

 The thing about macro photography is that it makes small things look big, and doesn't give you much if any frame of reference for how big or small they really are. So I can tell you this is a really big ant, and you have no idea what that means. Well, as ants go, this is a really big ant.

 More flowers are blooming for the bees...

 Zoomed in shot to see that face.

 Can you see the bee?

 In case you have been wondering, the Pistol Case Bearing Moth Caterpillar is still standing on its head in the middle of that leaf. It must be pupating in there. I wonder how long that is going to take; it's been there at least two weeks, I think.

 I am not sure if this is a wasp or a sawfly, but I think it is a wasp.

 Looks like a female with an ovipositor.

 I took a picture of this moth, or one like it, yesterday, but I got better shots today because yesterday my flash battery was dying.

I still get the creeps thinking of the gypsy moth caterpillar invasion of 1982 (I think). It was a real life horror movie. So many caterpillars. You could hear them crunching, killing trees. I know they are invasive, I know that they are awful (but really only when you have one of those huge outbursts. But I've seen three in the last two days. That's not an alarming number. And I am incapable of intentionally squishing a caterpillar - in part because of that invasion in 1982 (I think) - the sound of them being crushed underfoot - something you could not avoid - was sickening, and to this day it makes me squeamish to think of it. So I have not crushed any of the gypsy moth caterpillars I have seen in the last two days.

 Caterpillar Close-up

 I think this is an eastern tent caterpillar. I rescued it from the path of the lawnmower.

 Caterpillar Close-up

 Some kind of hopper?

 I know this picture is terribly out of focus, but there is one thing of interest that is in focus - you can see the proboscis folded back under the body.

Six spotted tiger beetle

 Here's a zoomed-in look at the previous picture, so you can see that amazing face.

 Female crane fly with ovipositor

 Ants tending their livestock - I mean, aphids

Arachnid Appreciation:
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 I accidentally destroyed this spider's web yesterday. No hard feelings, apparently, and today I was very careful not to touch it, since I now know it is there.