Bits and Pieces

The crickets are singing tonight, but it's just as chilly as it was last night. No fireflies, though. The daytime temperature managed to climb, eventually, into the low 70s, and it was sunny, so there were a fair number of bugs around. Not many of them were cooperative - one of the four butterflies I saw let me take some bad pictures, but that's it - but they were there. The biggest problem photo-wise was the wind - not just a breeze, or a few gusts, but some sustained force, roaring in the treetops. The kind of wind that makes you decide not to walk near trees with dead branches, just in case. Leaves were blown off trees. If I was a bug I'd have found some shelter, so it was amazing to me that there were bugs out flying - especially butterflies. They really don't seem like they should fly in a heavy wind.

Backyard Bug of the Day:

 This is some kind of tree hopper. I am pretty sure this is one I haven't seen before, but I didn't get a good look at it, or a good picture of it, because it would not stop moving. But hey, it's probably a new bug for me!

 I'll give you some of the bad pictures, because they at least show individual details, like color and texture, even if you never get a good look at what the bug looks like.

 An eye!

 Blurry side view!

Random Bugs:

 Have you ever wondered what a gypsy moth caterpillar's face looks like up close? No? Well, now you never will.

 I have seen these aphid nymphs on this tree trunk for days, but today is the first time I have seen them when they are not being tended to by one or more ants. It did occur to me that that spider may have eaten all the ants, but I don't think that's likely. It occurs to me now that a tree trunk is an odd location for aphids, because I don't think they can feed of a tree trunk.

The parent aphid was still nearby.

 You can't see the bug, but there's one inside that ball of fern frond.

 Beetle

 I found this bit of weirdness. I can't explain it, though.

 Some insects have no respect for personal space.

 Better look at this pretty bug.

Side view

 The best butterfly picture

 Robber fly

 Here's what I needed last week for my photo essay on the phases of insect life - a pupating lady beetle.

 Spittle bug

 I am not sure, but I think that perhaps those things on the rib of this leaf might be eggs laid by this hopper. You can also see the out-of-focus ant tending to it.

Arachnid Appreciation:
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