Always Searching

Maybe I am not remembering the past couple of summers very accurately, but it seems to me that there are not as many bugs around lately as there have been in the past around this time. I have a hard time finding things on many days. It may not seem like it when you look at my blog and see a lot of pictures, but when still, I think there are even fewer pictures than in the past. Hmm.

Backyard Bug of the Day:

 I was walking around in the backyard when something fluttered past me that I thought was a light colored moth. I followed its flight to see where it landed, and when it did, on a leaf of the crab apple tree, it seemed to disappear. Looking more closely, I realized it wasn't a moth, and the reason it disappeared is because its wings were clear and its body is green, so it blended in beautifully on the leaf. I believe it is a green lacewing.

 It was a bit over my head, so it was tricky to get a good picture, and I had to stand on my tiptoes, but I wanted a closer look... (Don't know why the body is bent that way).

 So I plucked the leaf off the tree. The wings are not what I recognize as green lacewing wings, but there are multiple species, so either this is a green lacewing that is not in my books, or it is some other bug that is not in my books. But it certainly resembles a green lacewing in many ways, to the eye of a complete non-expert (I am talking of myself, of course).

 Lovely eyes...

 Had to zoom that picture in (and turn it around).

The rest of the umbrella eggs have still not hatched...

 ... and some of them are not looking well.

Random Bugs:

 Spotted these tiny things on this flower - and believe me, even with the color contrast, these were not easy to spot!

 There were several of them coming in and out of the center of the flower. I am not sure if they are springtails, thrips, or something else entirely.

 There's an ant for scale - not that ants are great for scale, since they are variable in size. But it's a smallish ant.

 Here's a zoomed-in look, since these are so small they are even hard to see at the maximum magnification of the macro lens.

 I was just thinking today that I have not seen one of these moths on the crab apple tree in a while, and tada! - I spotted one.

Hmmm... I've never seen a stick bug, or a blue morpho butterfly... Tada?

Nope. Moving on...

 This looks like some kind of hopper, but certainly not one I have seen before. It doesn't look fully grown...

 Nor is this one.

The sumac is blooming, and attracting bees and wasps (the wasp flew away before I could get a picture of it).

 I was taking pictures of this fungus and moss and spotted movement. Can you see the bug?

How about now?

Who's On the Milkweed Today?

 The usual.

I have not seen any large milkweed bugs, small milkweed bugs, or red milkweed beetles in over a week. And I still have not seen any monarch caterpillars, alas...

Arachnid Appreciation:
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Mite on milkweed