Looking Closely

Today was a beautiful day.

 See all that beautiful, blue sky? Oh, and the Backyard Bird of the Day, a red tailed hawk, that glided in circles in that beautiful sky.

It's looking and feeling like spring. Well, it only looks like spring if you look really closely. So you should look really closely.

 It was perfect bug weather. I've been looking for bugs in my backyard for so long now that it is now pretty amazing when I can find something I have not seen before. Especially at a time of year when there are not many bugs around, finding one that is new to me is surprising. It's also a bit ironic when it's the only thing I found.

Backyard Bug of the Day:

 I don't know what it is, but I think it's a beetle larva of some kind. It's a little bit caterpillarish, but I still think it's a beetle larva.

 The reason I don't think this is a caterpillar is because it didn't move like a caterpillar, and it appeared to not have any prolegs. Just the 6 regular legs in the front.

 I was exaggerating when I said that was the only thing I found. I saw a few midges. I saw a leaf hopper, but it didn't want its picture taken. And I saw a swarm of somethings hovering over the leaf litter:

 These are all bad pictures, so I am going to post them so you can practice your bug-spotting skills. It will be great practice for looking closely at things. There is a bug in each of these pictures that appear to be just of dried leaves on the ground...

 I didn't find a lot of insects, but I found a LOT of spiders, at least 5 species, and several specimens of some of those species. Here are some of them for Arachnid Appreciation:
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 Six spotted orb weaver

 Jumping spider