Peachy

The lack of blogs the last couple of days is due to a lack of things to blog about. Yes, I admit, I didn't go out looking for bugs yesterday, because it was Easter and we went out for the day.  But I did go out looking on Saturday, and all I came away with is three blurry pictures of bees. There were simply no bugs to be found. Today, however, was a vast improvement, and so... here I am, blogging.

The best thing I saw today is not something I can show you, however, because I didn't get any pictures, but I did see my first Backyard Butterflies of the year. I saw two spring azures, one through the window, and the other zooming along a path in the backyard. They almost made up for the sounds of chainsaws nearby. Chainsaws are one of the worst sounds in the world, and not just because they nearly always signify the death of a tree. The first butterflies of the year are always a joy to me. The two I saw today were only the first for the backyard, though; last week I went on a bike ride and saw several mourning cloaks, a spring azure, and a cabbage white. It was quite a butterflying day.

Another joy today:

 The peach tree is in bloom! It was hard for me to get a picture, because all the branches are high up, but in this shot alone you can see that the tree is doing better than last year–last year there were only three flowers on the whole tree because of a warm winter with one really bitter weekend (which destroyed the peach crops in pretty much the entire state). The peaches on this tree are no good to eat, but the flowers are glorious.

Speaking of flowers, there are some enormous daffodils this year.

Backyard Bug of the Day:

Brown lacewing. Sorry it's not a closer shot; the bug was about 7 feet up in a tree and I am only 5'4.25" tall.

There were two main themes to the bugs in the backyard today. Bees and ants:

 Bees making more bees

 There were a LOT of huge bumblebees.

Several of them were doing that hovering thing they do to defend a territory. I saw a couple of aerial fights.

But basically, there are more flowers now (mostly on trees), so there are bees to feed on them.

And there are other bugs that feed on the flowers. This is a tiny beetle on leafy spurge.

There were ants everywhere today, and some pretty extensive formicaries under construction, with a lot of the ants carrying bits of leaves and other plant matter to their nests. They were all in a big hurry.

 Some kind of Hempitera

 A kind of stinkbug, I think (also a Hemiptera)

 Moth on the side of the house

 Moth on the side of the house, attracted by the porch light

 I should look this up... I think this is one of those beetles that looks a lot like a ladybeetle but is not. But it is a beetle

 Arachnid Appreciation:
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Jumping spider. Sometimes I just don't understand why people don't think spiders are cute.