The View From the Window

I looked out the window this morning, and saw that my backyard was teeming with life. The first thing that I noticed was the birds, the plethora of birds. They were flying here and there, but mostly to and from the dogwood tree in the middle of the meadowy part of the backyard. The dogwood tree has fruit on it - I don't know what they are called, but they look like bright red berries, and birds of several species were feasting - I could not see the birds in the tree, because they were among the leaves, but I could see them as they flew in and out of the leaves, and I could see the tree shaking madly from all of the beaks plucking at its bounty. There was a whole flock of robins, some bluejays, a tufted titmouse, a finch, a red bellied wood pecker, and I don't know what else - there were so many of them zooming about, I couldn't tell what they all were. I saw squirrels chasing each other across the lawn. I saw chipmunks scurrying furtively across the paths. I saw butterflies - the first I have seen in several days - a pair of cabbage whites tumbling around and around each other in the air in their whimsical, aerial ballet. A gust of wind precipitated a shower of yellow leaves from one of the trees. And I saw an acorn drop into the grass from the oak tree.

The acorn was interesting to me - I wondered if it had just happened to drop while I was watching, or did something knock it off? I looked up in a line from where the acorn had landed and saw a chipmunk at the end of a branch, looking down at the acorn, and it almost appeared as if it was trying to decide whether or not to jump after that valuable nut. It didn't jump; it scurried back into the depths of the tree's leaves, and shortly after I saw a chipmunk emerge from the brambles beneath the tree. It didn't go for the fallen acorn, but scurried away, and I could see that its cheeks were bulging with the tree's harvest already.

Here's something that was very interesting to me. I had occasion to do a little reading about chipmunks earlier this year, because there were some things that I wanted to know about them, and I read that they sometimes climb trees. I did not know that before; I thought that they were ground animals - they live in burrows in the ground, and I thought they gathered their food from things they find at ground level. But not long after this I saw a chipmunk in a tree for the first time. It was not high up - the branch it was on was growing from the trunk of the tree at less than a foot off the ground, and even when it traveled out on the branch I don't think it ever got even two feet up. But the chipmunk I had seen looking after the acorn was at my eye level, or a little above, and I was watching from a second story window. That chipmunk was way up in the tree! I looked back at the oak tree, and saw that there was another chipmunk in the tree, at least twenty feet off the ground. It was harvesting the acorns from the tree - I didn't know that they did that. I thought they just picked them up from the ground. I was surprised that it was the chipmunks, and not the squirrels, that were in the oak tree, but then I saw something else curious - I saw a squirrel climb the dogwood tree, and move out to the end of the branch and eat the fruits of that tree. I then saw that there were lots of chipmunks in the oak tree, scurrying up and down the trunk, going up with their faces small, and coming down with their cheeks bulging, and then running off to hide their stash for the winter. It was an amazing spectacle to witness. I have never seen anything like it.

And did I just stand there and watch all of this, I know you are wondering?

No. I went downstairs, put the telephoto lens on the camera, and went back upstairs to try to take some pictures. I had to open the window on this vibrant, sunny scene, and was greeted by pleasantly warm, fresh air, and the songs of crickets. It was a delight to several of the senses. And it shows that you don't even have to go outside to enjoy the life that's out there. I recommend it whenever you can, but if for some reason you can't, a window can allow you to share it anyway.

Aside from the two butterflies, I didn't really see any insects from my perch by the window, which is pretty unusual - yes, they are small, but not so small that you can't see them flying around. I see them through the windows and even the skylights all the time. I thought that maybe I would not have a very successful bug walk, in spite of the beautiful day, but that was definitely not the case.

Backyard Animal of the Day:

 Do you see the chipmunk?

Note that it already has acorns stuffed in its cheeks.

 It's a little hard to tell what's going on here, but the chipmunk is reaching for the acorn with its mouth and its paw.

 For some reason it didn't take that one.

Backyard Bug of the Day:

 Pearl crescent butterfly

 I did get a look at the outside of the wings, but it was when I was still trying very hard not to scare it away, and I didn't get a close shot.

 The magnifier will have to do.

 I love the hint of blue on its body.

 Aaaaand another white cabbage butterfly. I am still feeling rather grumpy towards them for the destruction of my Brussels sprouts.

Random Bugs:

 A lot of wasps and bees again today, though these pictures won't reflect that. It was a warm day, and they were all very active.

 Beetle?

 This moth just about crashed into me as I was checking the mail, and then it landed nearby, and let me take its picture.

 Fly

 Just to prove me wrong, another of these tiny hoppers

 Assassin Bug

 I can't find this caterpillar in the book. It was moving strangely, as if it was injured somewhere toward the back end of its body.

 Caterpillar close-up

 Planthopper

 Cranefly. You probably can't tell from the picture, but it's a much smaller species than I have been seeing lately. And much more cooperative than those have been.

 I did find one of those larger ones that was willing to pose briefly.

 Check out that eye!

 White hickory tussock moth caterpillar still in the cedar tree

 Beetle. I almost made this Backyard Bug of the Day, before I decided to go with conventional beauty and choose the butterfly, mainly because I am not thrilled with the pictures I got of this. I think this is the first one of these I have seen this year.

 

 I can't find it in the book right now, though I thought it was in there (I am tired...), but I think it is some kind of leaf beetle.

 Colorado potato beetle. I was going to make this beetle the Backyard Bug of the Day, but it is a pretty destructive garden pest, and while it's not in my garden, people tend to get outraged when I honor bugs that wreck their gardens. There was a terrible outcry when I featured a scarlet lily beetle once (which, unbeknownst to me at that time, is invasive).

 I think I saw these in their larval stage a while back.

 Grasshopper on my leg. I have had a lot of grasshoppers land on me lately.

 Moth

 Ambush bugs cuddling

 Another white hickory tussock moth caterpillar, eating a leaf.

 A thrips on my hand

 Weevil

It was a gorgeous, sunny day this morning, and still mostly sunny when I went outside to do my bug walk, though the occasional cloud briefly blocked the sun while I was out there. So imagine my surprise when about an hour after I went inside, I looked outside and saw that it was pouring rain! I went out in the rain to wash off a paintbrush with the hose, and found this unfortunate insect:

 I think it's a winged ant. It seems to have been as surprised by the rain as I was.

Almost everyone's caught some prey today for Arachnid Appreciation:
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 Jumping spider that looks like it has a sowbug

 Crab spider with bee

Six-spotted orb weaver with something very small

 One of those leaf miner moth caterpillars in its case seems to have landed in an unfortunate spot.

 This one had just wrapped up some prey and moved to another part of the web when I took this.

 Hasn't caught anything yet...

Assassin bug with spider prey!