A Question of Timing

I had to make a choice today between doing my bug walk when the backyard was full of sunshine, but the temperature was only in the 50s, or wait until the air warmed up, but the backyard would be more or less in the shade. In retrospect, I could have, and maybe should have, done both, but I wanted a nap. So, I chose to wait for the day to warm up. I waited a long time, and it only got up to 66ºF, and by then pretty much the whole backyard was in shade. And it started to cool down again well before I was finished with my bug walk. I don't know if I made the best choice, but I did find a decent number of bugs, and I will never know what might have been different if I had done otherwise, so... off we go to look at what I found.

Backyard Bug of the Day:

 This wasp was about 1/8 of an inch long.

 

Random Bugs:

Here's something I have learned about bees. If you see a bee in a perfect pose for a picture, and you don't already have it in focus, ready to click the shutter, you are too late to get the shot.

 Ailanthus webworm moth. It has a bluish tinge to it, but it's not as blue as this picture makes it look.

 Candy striped leaf hopper

 The white marked tussock moth is gone. I assume that having fulfilled her biological imperative of laying all of these eggs, she had reached the end of her lifespan. But she could have been eaten, too, I suppose.

 Sharpshooter

 The catalpa tree continues to be a bug magnet. Here, if you have very good eyes, you can see a net-winged beetle, a ladybeetle, and two ants.

Another ladybeetle on the catalpa tree. Most of the ladybeetles I see in my backyard are a more orangey red. This one is quite eye-catchingly RED red.

 This ladybeetle has a fungal infection.

 Chilly weather puts bees in a languid mood, although you'd think the 60s would not be cold enough for that.

 This may be the same butterfly that the ambush bug was feeding on the other day. It was still dangling from the same plant, but there was no ambush bug this time.

 Camouflage looper caterpillar

 Hopper nymph

 

 Katydid

 There was a little spot on its back that was moving in and out. If you compare this picture and the next you might be able to tell where. I don't know what it was doing that for, but it had a look of breathing (though I am pretty sure that's not what it was).

 

 

 Assassin bug

Arachnid Appreciation:.
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Bowl and doily spider