A couple of small things before we get to the pictures today. First, there was a change in the air today, and that change was a sound that really makes you feel like it's summer - the drone of cicadas. We have annual cicadas here, and though I have only actually seen one twice - maybe three times - in the sixteen years since we bought this property, we hear them every summer, and they are part of the soundtrack of summer. You hear them and expect heat and humidity, and laziness, and just plain summeriness.
Second thing - I got bopped in the head twice today in the backyard. The first time I was winged by a bird that flew past me too close. Just a light tap, but I am not sure if it was intentional or not. I was just standing there, so it's not like I was walking, and the bird was flying, and I zigged when it thought I was going to zag. There is a pair of robins that have been kind of aggressive lately, and I think they have a new nest somewhere in the vicinity, but since I don't know where it is, I don't know where to avoid. It could have been a robin warning me off. Or it could have been a catbird - they've been pretty aggressive lately, too. I didn't get a good look at it, and in peripheral vision, flying past, those two are both kind of similar. And maybe it really was just a mistake. The second bonk I have no idea who the culprit was. I was wearing my dopey lawn mowing hat because we were doing work in the yard, and I was taking a break to take some pictures. I was looking through the camera when something bopped me right on the head. I heard kind of a buzz from whatever it was, or maybe not a buzz, but a wing sound. I never even got a glimpse of the thing.
Today's pictures have a theme - I am declaring today Purple Coneflower Day here on the blog. That is because there were so many different bugs on the purple coneflowers that I am just going to post pictures of bugs on those flowers. There are about 20 of them blooming, mostly together in one cluster, and it was a very popular place for bugs today. I did take a couple of pictures of bugs elsewhere, but I found so many bugs on the purple coneflowers that I didn't even bother to do a real bug walk today (also, I didn't really have time). These pictures came from several visits to the flowers over the course of the afternoon and early evening.
So, let's start Purple Coneflower Day with Backyard Bug of the Day:
I think this is a juvenile stinkbug.
See the proboscis tucked under the body? Definitely Hemiptera, even if it's not a stinkbug.
Proboscis stuck in the plant, sucking out nutrients.
The coneflowers were not only popular, but sometimes crowded. There are four bugs on here:
One is dead, but still...
Given that there were so many delicious prey bugs on the coneflowers, naturally there were a lot of ambush bugs ready to snatch them:
This is the one from the picture above with the four bugs. Looks like it was hiding under the petals and grabbed the little bee.
It climbed out...
... Across a few petals...
... and back down between two other petals. I am sure it had its reasons. Look, a blue bee!
They don't usually hang out in such an obvious place.
Usually it's more like this.
There are two there...
Zoomed in
Even a baby ambush bug. Well, a nymph. And there are a couple of little beetles there for it to ambush.
So many ambush bugs...
Also, as you have probably already surmised, bees:
One honey bee (I think this is a honey bee).
Lots of bumblebees
And lots of little bees. It's impossible for me to know it all those little bees were the same or different species.
A lot of them looked like this one, though - blue.
I tried hard to get a picture that really showed that this bee was blue. This is the best one.
Of course, with all those bees, I guess it makes sense that there would be something that attacks bees:
The thick-headed fly. Yes, that is a purple coneflower, just not open yet. Or purple.
Surprisingly (and disappointingly) few butterflies:
These two fritillaries. And just about one second before I got this focused, the flowers were buzzed by a tiger swallowtail, but naturally I didn't get the shot.
Now, brace yourself for a ridiculous number of pictures of a flower longhorn beetle:
Sorry. It's just really hard to get decent pictures of this bug. This is but a fraction of the shots I took...
There were other beetles, too:
Tiny ones, that fit between the... I can't remember what those flower parts are called. Are they stamens? Pistils? Whatever, there were tiny beetles in there.
And occasionally on the petals.
I see you hiding.
I know what you're thinking - why isn't this incredible bug the Backyard Bug of the Day? It's a gorgeous blue, my favorite color! Well, it's not really this blue. That's just how the camera made it look because I had it on the wrong setting for the lower light. It is blue, though. And I am pretty sure was BBotD a couple of weeks ago. So, I went with the stink bug, because it was one I had never seen.
Hiding from the camera
Some miscellaneous bugs:
A hopper
Ant
Katydid nymph
Young assassin bug
Okay, I think I will give you a glimpse of what was going on on some of the other flowers in the backyard today...
Who's On the Milkweed Today?
One lonely plume moth. These were ubiquitous for a while, but I haven't seen any lately. Also, there were a few weevils, but I didn't get pictures of those.
There were still quite a few bees and wasps on the goldenrod. Interesting that there were no wasps on the purple coneflowers...
The pinks flowers had a few faithful bees.
Japanese beetles on the primrose
The only spider I saw today was on... a purple coneflower! Arachnid Appreciation:
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