Midafternoon in the Backyard

In what I think of as my normal life, as opposed to the life I have been living for the last couple of weeks, I usually did my bug walks in the early afternoon. During this recent period I have mostly done them in the morning, often quite early. Today, due to the timing of certain events, I did my bug walk in the early afternoon again. There was nothing momentous about it, I suppose, but I was aware of the fact that it felt more like my normal life (I am also writing this blog at the "normal" time, and that is a habit I don't really want to get back into. It's quite late...). I don't know that there was a great difference in the bugs I was finding. I did find a lot more bees than I have been seeing lately, but I don't know if that was due to the time of day or other factors. It was mostly cloudy, and then became sunny. It was kind of chilly. It became quite windy by the time I was finished. There is a lot of goldenrod in bloom, and that is what the bees were after. Even after four summers of bug observation I realize I don't really know very much.

Backyard Bug of the Day:

 A bee, of course.

 I have seen green bees before, but I don't think I have seen one that is green in the front and yellow and black stripes in the back, so this may be a new species for me.

 Pollen pants were definitely de rigeur in the backyard today.

 This one... (more of this one later)

 ... and this one look similar in these pictures, but they were definitely different species; the top one was much smaller than this one.

 Honey bee

 This one was just dozing on this plant.

Other than bees I saw these Random Bugs:

Katydid

 Moth

 Two aphids, tiny and tinier

 Ambush bug

 Assassin bug. I do sometimes wonder if the huge number of predator bugs in the backyard has something to do with the low number of bugs I have been finding...

 Katydid

 Grasshopper

 Remember this caterpillar? I found it today in the same spot and almost the same position as it was two days ago. But it looks quite different. I think it much have molted; it appears to be in a new instar, and has become quite spiky. You can go back to the post from two days ago to compare.

While we're checking in on the progress of caterpillars, here's the eastern tiger swallowtail I adopted (I still have not found the other one, so this is what I have left). It has been hiding for a couple of days, but I found it today. It has grown quite a bit, and built a new hammock. I think it is probably pretty close to time for it to become a chrysalis. Note to self: collect some sticks for it to pupate on...

 I found something new in the yard today - not a bug, but a species of wildflower I have not seen before.

 Arachnid Appreciation:
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If you're a bug, danger lurks everywhere...

 Here a spider waits while the bee gets closer...

 It makes a grab for it... but the bee got away.

 How can people not think spiders are adorable? Look at that face!