Mostly Spiders

Here's what's in my backyard now: spiders, caterpillars, assassin bugs (no pictures of those, uncooperative little brats), bees, and one beetle. Oh, and flies. It's mostly spiders. I will show you most of that list today, and don't worry, arachnophobes, the multifarious spiders will be at the end of the post, as usual.

Backyard Bug of the Day:

 Just kidding. Yes, this is the Backyard Bug of the Day, but this is not the picture to represent it.

 This is better. This bug landed on my leg, and I flicked it off. It flew back. I flicked it off. It flew back. I flicked it off. It flew back, and I flicked it off and said, "Cut it out!" or something to that effect. So, it crawled on the grass instead, and crawled up this clover, and onto the top of it. I just thought it looked strangely human as it crawled over the edge, ala the top picture.

 More crawling.

Caterpillars:

 It took me a minute to find this one today. It had finished eating the leaf from yesterday, and because it was on the bottom of this leaf I didn't see it at first. It appears to have entered the phase where it eats a lot, and really fast. It consumed several leaves today.

 Doing the tail-whip thing.

 It finished the leaf, and is now eating the stem.

 Zoomed-in version of the above picture. Interesting that its feet are not all the same color.

 Onto a new leaf.

 This tree is still quite popular with the white hickory tussock moth caterpillars. There were two on this side, and another on the other side.

The caterpillars on the deer netting hatched today:

Don't worry, they're not falling, they are dangling from silk. It is apparently how they disperse, although a lot of them crawled away.

 They kind of look like a weird act from Cirque du Soleil.

Random Bugs:

 I'll tell you a secret about this picture of a honeybee a little later.

 Beetle! I hardly ever see beetles anymore.

By the way, the weather was different today; it was cloudy. Obviously trying to make me look bad, like a meteorologist, but I didn't predict the weather, I just described the pattern we've been in. So, nice try, weather.  Also, the toad from the other day appears to be living under the porch; three times this week it has been seen hopping under there.

Arachnid Appreciation:
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 Here's the secret about the honeybee: this spider is visible in that picture.

 This funnel web spider has been living in the same spot for weeks. Its web is now completely covered with twigs and needles from the tree it lives in. I wonder how it's working at all anymore, but the spider seems to be doing okay there.

 Acrobat

 These goldenrod crab spiders are all over the place. Well, on the goldenrod, that is.

 Underside...

 Of this spider, which looks like its eyes were drawn on with a Sharpie by someone who doesn't have the steadiest hands.

 Sorry this is so blurry; this was taken at dusk when I went out to see if all the caterpillars had dispersed. As you can see on the left, some were still around, and probably in danger from the spider. I don't know if all those threads are from caterpillars or from the spider.