No Pain, No Gain

I had a terrible headache all day today, and my eyes were very sensitive, so I was reluctant to go outside, but when it clouded over (in other words, got kind of dark), I figured I would give it a try. I didn't try very hard, though, because peering through a camera at tiny things was uncomfortable, so maybe there were more bugs out and about today, but I didn't see them.

Backyard Bug of the Day:

 I saw one of these yesterday - posted a picture of it, as you may recall, but this one was not being tended by ants, so I got a better shot of it. I think it was bigger, too, but it's hard to really compare things based on memory. I still think this is an immature version of some kind of tree hopper/plant hopper. That is to say, it is obviously a hopper, I am just guessing that it is immature. And it looks like it is going to molt soon. I'd like to see what it looks like as an adult.

Random Bugs:

 I am sure you can spot the moth here, but if it had thought to line itself up parallel to the ridges on the tree trunk, maybe it would not be as obvious? Having said that, the reason I saw it was because I saw it land.

 Closer look.

Another small moth (though not as small). I don't think I have mentioned that when I am walking around the backyard there are always little moths that flutter out of the grass/bushes/whatever as I am walking by. Well, always is probably an exaggeration, but it happens a lot. In most cases I would not see these moths if they didn't suddenly appear like that. And in most cases they fly away so I can't get a picture. This one I found just sitting on this leaf, and it flew away after I took the picture.

There is a species of owl (barred owl, I think) that makes a cry like an old fashioned car horn, and I can hear one outside right now...

 Hemiptera of some kind

 Hoverfly

 Long legged fly

Plume moths are suddenly quite abundant in the backyard lately:

  On a daisy

On milkweed

 Bumblebee on milkweed. The milkweed are blooming kind of... sparsely this year, and aside from ants don't seem to be attracting as many bugs as usual. Sigh.

Aside from my inability to identify insects, I also find a lot of random things in the backyard that I can't identify:

 

 Some kind of egg sac?

Cocoon? I should blog about wildflowers instead of insects - I can identify most of the wildflowers in my backyard...

Arachnid Appreciation:
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Backyard Reptile of the Day:
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 Garter snake. I finally found something that explains that yes, garter snakes and ribbon snakes are different things, and how to tell them apart. This is a garter snake.

If it was a ribbon snake it would have a white spot in front of its eye, and there wouldn't be dark markings between the scales on its lower jaw. And this time I actually got a shot of the flicking tongue.