Lush

We've now reached the part of the summer when everything is lush and green and leafy, and everywhere you go in the backyard you just feel like you are surrounded by life.

It is glorious.

Backyard Bird of the Day:

 

 The hummingbird is back. I have seen it a couple of times out the window, but today it finally came and sat in its usual tree (which, as you can probably tell, is dead).

 It will land in the tree, and occasionally flutter away from its perch, only to go back again. Or change to a new perch.

 Backyard Toad of the Day:

 Found, as usual, while I was mowing the lawn, and it hopped away from the lawn mower.

Backyard Bug of the Day:

 Beetle. Not in my book, and I couldn't find one like it online. It's another new insect for me. I almost didn't take a picture of it, or even really look at it, because it just looked like a pretty generic Hemiptera, and I thought it would hide if I leaned it to get a picture, but something made me check it out through the lens, and I discovered it was an interesting little beetle that I had never seen before.

Random Bugs:

 I think this is a robber fly.

 Gnat with gorgeously iridescent wings

 I couldn't find this caterpillar yesterday, so I thought maybe it had moved somewhere else, or been eaten (there are several spiders living on this hazelnut bush), but I found it today. It was just sitting there in this weird posture, which made it hard to photograph. I wondered what it was doing, and decided to come back later to see if it would be in a better position for a picture...

When I came back later I found that it had moulted. That is its discarded skin on the leaf behind it. Still in an awkward posture, though. I don't know if you can tell from the pictures, but the color of its face is lighter now.

 On the same leaf I found some insect eggs, some hatched, one not.

Another insect egg, elsewhere.

 This looks a lot like a firefly, but I didn't get a look to see if that's what it was. There isn't a firefly in my book that looks like this, with that shape, but in other respects it definitely looks like one. However, it could be some other kind of beetle.

 Cranefly

 No idea what what this thing is. There were a couple of them on an oak tree. For something that looks like a ball of fluff, it was amazingly heavy (which I know from holding onto the branch it is on). And it looked sticky, though I did not touch it to find out, because I didn't want my hands to be sticky. I don't know if this is a normal thing to grow on an oak tree, or is it a gall of some kind? I have never seen anything like this.

 I think this is a spittle bug.

 Side view of the same bug.

 I think this is an apple fly. However,  my bug book has fallen on the floor out of my reach, and I am too lazy to pick it up, so I don't know for sure. But the orange and purple striped eyes are amazing.

 Some kind of Hemiptera nymph.

 Weevil

 Some kind of Hemiptera

 I think this is a male velvet ant, which is actually a kind of wasp. The female doesn't have wings, and looks a lot like an ant, which I am guessing is where the name comes from. There were a couple of these hovering around some leaf litter, which I think means there was probably a female with a nest nearby (they nest in the ground).

 When they are flying you see them as a red blur.

 This is not an eight spotted forester moth, I think it is a grape leaf roller moth. Trapped in the window. I was disappointed that it was not an eight spotted forester moth, because its status trapped between the window meant I would have been able to get a picture of it, finally.

 Stink bug. I did look up the species, but I don't remember it (it was the Latin name), and as I said, I don't want to go get the book... Okay, fine... It's Stiretrus anchorago.

 Looper

 

 I got a quick glimpse of an eastern tiger swallowtail today. This is the only shot I got before it flew off, up into the trees. That is where I usually see them, flying high among the trees.

More ants attending those aphids. In the exact same spot as yesterday, during the spider attack.

 I found these mud balls in a bush. I am guessing there are eggs inside, probably wasps, because they seem to like to make things out of mud.

 Firefly, found on the back porch, attracted by the light? You can see the glowy part, even if it is not glowing at the moment.

 Tiny hopper - you probably can't tell from the picture, but it's dark blue, not black. Also on the porch.

 

I have lost track of which spiders I have not yet seen in these last few days. We might be up to about 25 species. Arachnid Appreciation:

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 Mite. Not a spider.

 Yet another crab spider missing a limb.

 

 Zoomed-in look at that face.

 I think this is a new one for this week. I found a similar jumping spider the other day, but it was a different color.

 I think this is another new one.