Odd Nostalgia

New strategy today: Bug walk in the morning, before it gets hot. Well, before it gets hotter, it was hot to start with. It was dewy, or maybe everything was just still wet from the thunderstorm last night, but not very buggy.

Backyard Bug of the Day:

 Tiny beetle, about a quarter inch long. Maybe less. Being morning, some parts of the yard were really shady, like this part, so with the low light it was hard to see what this was without looking through the camera. I am not at home while writing this, so I can't look it up (but who am I kidding? We both know I probably wouldn't bother).

Random Bugs:

 Monarch caterpillar taking a brief break from eating

 The last of these caterpillars, headed off to turn into something else. The other one that was the same stage was already gone by the time I went outside. Alas, I never did figure out what they were, and what they will become, butterflies, or moths, vibrant or drab... Probably they were something pretty big, though, because they were nice sized caterpillars in the end. Not as big as a luna moth, but maybe as big as a tiger swallowtail or at least a monarch. This is the time of year when parents have to say goodbye to their college-bound kids, and I won't claim that I have the same level off sadness at seeing my caterpillars go away, but there is definitely some wistfulness. At least the parents get texts from their kids once in a while. I never know what happens to the caterpillars.

 The bees were out in force this morning. Mostly too busy to pose, though.

 Two things - there's a tiny beetle hanging out with this caterpillar, and...

 They are definitely changing color now.

 As a reminder, here's one that hasn't really started to change yet.

 Found a couple of white hickory tussock moth caterpillars today.

And the eastern tiger swallowtail. It was another pretty caterpillary day, but it helps when most of those are in the same place every day, so I know where to find them.

 See that thin, thread-like thing?

It's a tree cricket antenna. I saw the antenna sticking out from between some leaves, and thought it might be an antenna. Then it moved, and I was pretty sure it was. The cricket didn't like me peeking at it, though, so it jumped to the ground, which is where you see it here.

 Hoverfly

 This bee made a risky move, landing right behind an assassin bug, but fortunately for the bee (though not for the assassin bug), they can only pounce if you land in front of them.

This is the first time in... 10 years, maybe? that I have seen groundnuts blooming in my backyard. Funnily enough, they are blooming in the same place they used to bloom ten years ago. The ants seem to like the flowers. I just wanted a picture of the flowers, but it seems I can't NOT take pictures of bugs.