Nature Is Just Inherently Beautiful, Even When It's Not

When I first started by Backyard Bug of the Day project (which wasn't even a project when I started it), I had a rule that I couldn't repeat a bug as Backyard Bug of the Day. Every day had to be a new bug. Obviously I don't have that rule anymore, because if I did, I wouldn't get to post a Backyard Bug of the Day on most days. I don't find new things very often anymore - I am actually pretty amazed that I still find new things at all. If you think this is leading up to me saying that I found something new and amazing today, you're wrong. I had a hard time finding anything at all, and when I came in and looked at the pictures, I was pretty underwhelmed by the choices for Backyard Bug of the Day. Maybe I'm just in a bad mood, but nothing seemed exciting enough. Today's Backyard Bug of the Day is one that has been BBotD before, last year, I think. What's interesting about today's bug, though, is that it is one that a couple of years ago I wouldn't even have taken a picture of, because I was too creeped out by it, but now I have come to think it is quite a handsome bug. They say that love can make a person look beautiful when they didn't seem beautiful before. I am not in love with this bug. But I can appreciate it and see it as interesting and possessing a beauty of a kind.

Backyard Bug of the Day:

 Earwig. Yes, it has big, creepy pincers on its butt (the males' are bigger than the females', so I think this is a male). But it's sleek and shiny, and rich, handsome colors. It is unusual in that the female doesn't just lay some eggs and leave them, she tends them, and even stays to look after her young after they hatch. The huddle together in nooks and crannies and look like they are cuddling. Yes, they can be garden pests, but they can be garden helpers too - they eat aphids and caterpillars and other bugs that are not friendly to gardens.

 The first picture and this one are on milkweed, by the way. Here you get a better look at the difference between male and female pincer size.

Backyard Bug Behavior:

 You're going to have to work a bit here. First, find the bug in this picture.

 It's easier to find here - a hoverfly.

 It was hovering around, and occasionally landing on this plant. Yes, it's in the picture.

 It's here, too.

 Here she is, sitting on a flower bud...

 And on another bud.

 And what is she doing?

 Laying an egg!

 I wonder what happens to the egg when the flower opens in the next day or two...

Some weirdness:

Just the head of an ant, sitting on a leaf.

 No idea what this is.

 Okay, this isn't weird. Unless you think an insect egg hanging from a thread is weird.

Who's On the Milkweed Today?

 Not many bugs, that's for sure. The flowers are mostly gone on most of the plants, but there are still a few bees visiting them (and plume moths).

 And ants, too.

Speaking of ants...

Random Bugs:

 This is a really tiny caterpillar, dangling from a thread. More on thread dangling later...

 Japanese beetle with antennae extended...

 Japanese beetle that has tucked its antennae under its head. I have no idea why it would do that - its antennae are sensory organs, so why would it not want to be sensing things?

 Bee posing...

 Bee flying away

 Meadow bug

 Plume moths are to be found on all kinds of flowers.

 Baby tree cricket I think.

 Lint with legs (No, that is not their real name).

 There was a theme to my spider sightings today: tiny spiders dangling from threads. Arachnid Appreciation:
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 This one isn't dangling from a thread here, but I found it dangling from a thread attached to my arm.

Tiny ant mimic spider...

 Tiny ant mimic spider dangling from a thread

 Random tiny spider dangling from a thread

 Another random tiny spider dangling from a thread

 Crab spider on a flower I don't know the name of