The Birds and the Bugs

I don't have much for you today because there was a minor catastrophe at my house today (don't worry, nobody was hurt) and I had to spend time dealing that, and it made certain parts of my yard temporarily inaccessible. Also, in a refrain that will be familiar to you, there weren't many bugs around. And it rained on and off all morning. So, all the usual excuses today - no time, no bugs, bad weather, catastrophe...

Actually, the most interesting bug observations I have from today involve birds, and the bugs in these scenarios were eaten. I saw a catbird try and fail to catch a gypsy moth, then catch and eat another bug, and then yet another bug flee from it (at least, that's how it appeared to me). Then I saw a wren with something small and green in its mouth, which at first I thought was a leaf, but wrens don't eat leaves. The wren landed on a rock and started whapping the green thing against it. I read somewhere that birds will do that with caterpillars to brush off any stinging hairs. Presumably the wren then ate it, or fed it to its young - all I know is that it flew away with it.

Actually I have one other interesting bug story, and it involves a human. I was in the backyard looking for bugs, and one of the contractors involved in the catastrophe walked by to get to the door, and he saw me with my camera. "Is that a camera?" he asked, and I said yes without rolling my eyes at the obviousness of the fact that it was a camera. "What are you taking pictures of, bugs?" he then asked. I was surprised. Generally when people see me taking close-up pictures of things in my backyard, their first guess is that I am taking pictures of flowers (which I actually was at the time he asked me that, ironically). It doesn't occur to people that someone would be taking pictures of bugs. The contractor then asked if I knew where the bugs were (another odd question) and wanted to know if there were any interesting ones I could show him. As I have said, there were not a lot of bugs around today, but I did manage to find him a couple of long-legged flies and an earwig.

Backyard Bug of the Day:

 A pretty, little moth. About half an inch long.

 

Random Bugs:

 An even tinier moth.

 This is too small to even see what it is (though it looks beetlish), but there were a whole bunch of them on the stile.

 Uncooperative stinkbug

 Hoverfly

 Bee

 Case bearing beetle larva. Well, the case anyway - you can't see the larva.

 I think this is a leaf bug.

There are three weevils here.

 Tiny ants

I haven't been seeing spiders lately... I miss Arachnid Appreciation.