Still Flying

I forgot to mention it at the time, but meteorological summer ended about two weeks ago. Astronomical summer still has about a week or so left, but summer as defined by weather records ended the moment August became September. Not that the weather instantly changed, and in fact the first week of September was pretty hot, but now it's not as hot all the time, and the nights are almost chilly sometimes. Some of the trees are starting to change, and the earliest leaves are starting to fall (which is partly due to the drought). Summer isn't over over, but it's winding down.

And I think probably nobody feels that more than today's Backyard Bug of the Day:

 This is a butterfly that has been through a lot.

 Red-banded hairstreak

 Its wings are really beat up, but it can still fly. It's curious that one wing is now smaller than the other - I didn't get a good look at it flying, so I couldn't tell if that affects how it flies.

Random Bugs:

 This green sweat bee on autumn joy sedum is my favorite bug/flower color combination.

Once again most of the bug life int he backyard was centered around one flowerbed populated mostly by goldenrod. It was almost all in the shade by the time I went outside today, though there was a little sunshine on some of the plants. I did find a couple of Coleoptera (beetles) this time:

 Lady beetle

 

 Lady beetle. Interesting that I found lady beetles, because I didn't see any aphids.

 Ailanthus webworm moth

 

 

 Another diurnal moth

 Ambush bug

Assassin bug

Not all of the insects are there for the flowers:

 Ant tending to plant hoppers.

 Adult and nymph - I think the background one is a discarded exoskeleton. I have seen the adults of this bug before, but I think this is the first time I have seen a nymph.

 The ants protect them in exchange for honeydew, the sugary excretion of the hoppers.

Once again there were myriad bees and wasps on the goldenrod, but I didn't get a lot of pictures of them, because they were too fast, and moved too much (and it was windy, which really did not help). I got quite a few pictures like this:

 But a few worked out enough that you can see what was there.

 

 Large milkweed bug

 Leaf-footed bug

 I think this is a snowy tree cricket

 Beetle

 There are fewer white hickory tussock moth caterpillars on the crab apple tree the last few days, but there are still some hanging around.

 Assassin bug

 Hopper with a damaged elytron, showing the iridescent wing underneath. I have had very few glimpses of the wings of leaf hoppers.

 Excessively uncooperative katydid - I think.

Insect art