Years ago, the second week of August used to be rain, rain, rain. Every day. It wasn't like that before I moved to Connecticut, but I noticed it after living here for a couple of years - it was notable because the second week of August is when the Perseid meteor shower takes place, so years of missing out on it because of rain made it easy to notice that it was always the same week. There used to always be a tennis tournament in Connecticut that week that would have problems with rain (I think the dates of that tournament have changed now). However, for the last several years it hasn't happened. I was thinking about it today, and in addition to the annual rainfest during the second week of August there are random times when it will rain every day for a week or more. It's always pretty depressing, really, but I don't even remember the last time that happened. Yes, we had rain several days in a row last week, but those were brief showers, sometimes lasting only about a minute. I am talking about the kind of day when it rains steadily all day long. And you have those days for a week. And you start to go crazy from the constant rain and lack of sunshine. We do sometimes have a week of gloomy weather (not lately, but often in the spring and fall, and winter), but without the rain. Now, I am not saying I WANT a week of rainy days. I prefer them to be spaced out a bit, but a good, rainy day can be a joy in some ways. It's just one of those things that shows you that you can have too much of a good thing.
(It is pouring outside right now, by the way).
I say all this because today was supposed to be one of those rainy days. We had a couple of brief showers, but most of the day was sunny, and after one shower that lasted a minute, the ground was dry five minutes after it stopped raining. So, on a day when I thought I might have trouble getting outside to find bugs, I had no trouble at all. I did have trouble
finding bugs, but no trouble getting out there to look for them.
But before bugs, Backyard Birds of the Day:
I know it's a terrible picture, but it's red tailed hawks. There were three of them, and their appearance in the sky of my backyard today, calling to each other and soaring on the currents was interestingly timed; last night my husband and I were talking about the high populations of small mammals in the backyard this summer - chipmunks, rabbits, voles, shrews, mice - and I mentioned that maybe there were fewer predators around, and that I had not seen any red tailed hawks in quite a while. And then three of them appeared today to prove to me that they are still there.
Backyard Bug of the Day:
Gray hairstreak butterfly. Do not adjust your screen; the picture is not upside down. This one still has both its tails; they often break off, so it's not unusual to see a butterfly with one or none.
Hairstreaks rub their wings back and forth, which gives a tiny glimpse of the dorsal side of the wing.
Random Bugs:
Checking up on the furcula caterpillars, I found one that has turned white in the areas where it was dark. I wondered if it was sick, or just molted (though there's no shed skin nearby), or just about to molt. I checked on it a few more times, and nothing had changed. But then much later, after dark, I went out again to look, and it was still the same, but one of the other caterpillars had also turned white like this, and that one
had just molted, because the shed skin was beside it. 'Tis a puzzlement.
Caterpillar close-up
Grasshoppers were everywhere today.
Tiny looper
The head is the end on the left.
Yesterday's purple crested slug-like caterpillar
I guess I can see why that color is seen as purple...
I saw this bee flying, and it crashed into a flower and fell to the ground. I watched it wander a bit, but then I got distracted by something else (the gray hairstreak that became Backyard Bug of the Day), and missed what happened to it.
Robber fly with prey
This is not just a bit of dried leaf...
... it's a camouflaged looper caterpillar.
Here's another one, and there's an ambush bug nearby. The ambush bug was going the other way, but I wonder if this camouflage works on them.
An unusual circumstance occurred today:
I got pictures of two different species of dragonflies.
Assassin bug with prey
Milkweed tussock moth caterpillar
Looper. It has an interesting configuration of prolegs - and they are quite long and skinny, too.
Better picture of this bee that looks like it was made from the parts of two different bees - a green one in the front and a yellow and black striped one in the back.
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