Shade

The first thing I noticed when I walked out the back door this afternoon was shade. There actually is some in the backyard.

 We have shade because there are leaves on the trees. The shade was not from these particular trees, which are on the eastern side of the backyard, and therefore do not provide shade in the afternoon, but this picture shows the progress we have made toward having a fully-leafed-out woods. These trees aren't there yet, but looking around today, most of the trees have leaves on them, and the ones that don't have leaf buds that are about to open. It is good. Especially today, when the temperature was in the low 80s.

Backyard Bug of the Day:

 Grasshopper. This was a surprise today, to see an adult grasshopper. I always think of those being late summer insects. It was surprising to me a few weeks ago to find a grasshopper nymph of a late instar (different species to this, more on that in a moment), and it is surprising to find this imago grasshopper. I don't know if I am just wrong about grasshoppers (a quick internet search turned up information that some grasshoppers are around in the spring, but it was kind of vague), it's just not what I am used to. I tried to look this one up in my book, but it was a fruitless endeavor.

 I found this grasshopper on a rock along the edge of the front walk. About two feet away, on the front walk, was...

... this grasshopper. Different species (also unable to find in my book), but I think the species that I had as Backyard Bug of the Day a few weeks ago, as a nymph. Here is has fully grown wings, so it is an imago.

Also on the front walk, but earlier in the day...

 

 I found this cricket. It was so cooperative I thought it was dead, but it did move its leg a little bit when I got really close, so it was alive. The front walk was hot, though.

I'll be honest with you; today I took mostly really bad photos. The bugs were just not interested in posing for me:

 Six spotted tiger beetle, leaving the scene.

Fortunately I found another six spotted tiger beetle on another rock on the other side of the yard, and it was marginally more cooperative.

 Bee

 Beetle in a flower, and a beetle photobombing in the background. Not a good photo of either (Which will give you a sense of how bad my pictures were today - these are the ones I am actually showing you).

 Remember last week some time when this kind of weevil was Backyard Bug of the Day, and I found that particular specimen on my shoulder? I found this one on my shoulder, too. If I was given the task of naming this species of weevil, I might forego names related to its gorgeous color, and call it the Shoulder Weevil, which would no doubt confuse a lot of people, unless they also found one on their shoulder.

 I don't know what these are. They are on the stem of a leaf. They could be part of the plant, but they sort of look like chrysalides. But they look like different kinds of chrysalides (that is the plural of chrysalis, in case you are wondering), as one is bigger than the other, and they have different textures. But how weird would it be for one larva to build its chrysalis on another chrysalis? Actually, I have no idea how weird that is, maybe for insects it's not. There is a temptation to put these in a jar and wait to see if something comes out of them.

Two bugs here, a beetle and an assassin bug. Can you spot them?

 The assassin bug did not spot the beetle.

Here is the beetle:

 Here is another - they were in several places in the backyard today.

 Here's a couple more.

Here's the same couple.

 Caterpillar

Arachnid Appreciation:
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Jumping spider. I have read in several places that spiders have poor eyesight, and can basically just see light and dark, but I watched a video yesterday, produced by a university's entomology department, that said that jumping spiders have very good vision, including color vision with their front eyes. It would make sense that jumping spiders would have good vision, because they are ambush predators, and, not catching prey in a web they don't have the web vibrations to rely on, and also they must need good depth perception for the jumping they do. All of which just goes to show you can't trust what you read on the internet. So, maybe other spiders have poor vision that amounts to basically just seeing light and dark, but jumping spiders apparently are different (their eyes look different than a lot of other spiders'). The video also said that jumping spiders are the most intelligent spiders, but I don't know how you measure that. I don't imagine they are giving spiders i.q. tests. At any rate, I think they are the spiders with the most charming personalities.