Telling the Weather By Bug

Can you guess what the weather was like here today just by looking at this picture?

 If you guessed sunny and in the 60s, you are correct. If you didn't, you haven't been paying attention to this blog! Last week you may remember that I pointed out that our weather went from 30s to 40s to 50s to 60s to 70s over successive days. Well, then it went in reverse: 70s to 60s t0 50s to 40s - It did not go back into the 30s. But now we're swinging back up again - 40s to 50s to 60s... That's where we're topping out, and we'll go back down again to the 40s through the weekend, with SNOW forecast for Sunday night. Ah, March.

I have continued to be perplexed and disappointed that the crocuses are not attracting bugs, and so today, I chose the Backyard Bugs of the Day in part because they were in a crocus. Backyard Bug of the Day:

 Ants! I have seen a random ant here and there over the last few weeks... Well, months, really, because I saw them over the (non)winter on occasion. But today they were out in numbers.

 On the crocuses...

 And on this tree trunk. I don't know how well you can tell from the pictures (in part because I didn't get any really good ones of the ants in the crocus), but these are different species of ants. I quite like this particular species, with their heart shaped abdomens.

Random Bugs:

 Ladybug

 Wasp attracted to the porch light

 I debated about posting this, because I don't really like to post dead bugs... and I feel a pang of guilt about this one because I might have inadvertently squashed it when I was putting the recycling bin away. But it is kind of cool, for a dead beetle, so here it is.

So many spiders again today! Arachnid Appreciation:
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 I spotted this little spider on my bedroom window. I love that I get this view of bugs on that window. Anyway, when I saw it, it rushed right past a tiny bug on the window, and I thought that was weird, because you'd think it would eat the tiny bug, but when I got a good look at it through the camera (the spider is quite small), I realized it already had a bug in its grip. It was still alive at this point - I could see it waving its legs.

 Tiny spider pretending to be a lump on a twig.

 Zoomed-in look. This is one of those spiders with weird eyes.

 I spotted this one when I was taking pictures of the ants on the tree trunk, and for a second I thought it was just a smaller ant.

 I did try looking this up the other day... Didn't find out what it is...

 Another one of the same species.

6 different spider species in the same day.