I Think Bugs Are GREAT! Most of Them, Anyway

I have been writing this blog for three years plus a few days, and whether you have been reading it al along (Hi, Sis!), or just stop in occasionally, or just randomly happened to find this post, if you are reading this now, this is what you need to know: I think bugs are amazing. When you look at them really close, I mean really look at them, they are just astonishing creatures. They are so completely alien to us. Some of them are beautiful, some of them are adorable, some of them are ugly, but they are all incredible. We owe a great debt to some of them, like the pollinators for keeping us alive, but also carrion eaters and dung beetles, which we don't think about a lot, and aren't as glamorous as the pollinators that are the reason we have food to eat, but think about what would be piling up all around us if there were no carrion eaters and dung beetles. Some of them are helpful just because they eat other bugs. And no, not all bugs are good. Most of them are basically just benign, living all around us without us ever even knowing that they are there, and not being affected by them much at all. Some are pretty awful, like mosquitoes and ticks (which are actually arachnids). Some of them can be horrible if you take them from the place where they belong and drop them someplace else, like the caterpillar scourge that is just beginning here.

So why am I reminding you of all this today? Because I have written some pretty mopey blogs lately, where I complain about the gypsy moth caterpillars, and the ticks, and I noticed something last night after I posted yesterday's blog. You see, when I publish a post, this site takes me to a list of my posts, and next to each one is a number: the number of views of that page. It is never a big number, but what I noticed this week is that the few really grumbly, anti-bugs-in-the-backyard posts have 2 to 3 times as many views as my usual posts. Which means that there are 2 to 3 times as many people reading the things I have said that are down on bugs. And that kind of depressed me. One of the reasons I write this blog is because I want people to see, and appreciate, and marvel at these tiny creatures that live all around us. I want them to see that insects are amazing, and beautiful, and cute, and fascinating. And if the people who clicked on those blogs only read the beginning, and didn't scroll through to see all the pictures of the bugs that are so cool, then instead of inspiring them to like bugs, or at least appreciate them, then all I did was contribute to the overwhelmingly anti-bug attitude that most people have. And hey, I used to have that attitude, too. I used to think that bugs were gross, and creepy, and I stomped a lot of ants when I was a kid. I was one of those people who killed bugs almost by reflex, because they were near me. And that was dumb, because the vast majority of the bugs I encountered in my life couldn't do my any harm. And even most of those who could, didn't do my any harm. But I suspect that the extra people who saw those posts Googled something to do with either ticks or gypsy moth caterpillars, found my blog, found out that my blog isn't really going to tell them anything useful about getting rid of those pests, and clicked out. And I may have just confirmed what they already thought, that bugs are awful.

Well, they're not awful. They're amazing. Except for ticks, about 20 of which I killed today (Today I did something I almost never do, which is that I wore insect repellent while mowing the lawn. I tucked my jeans into my socks and sprayed everything below my knees, because the ticks in the grass have been so bad lately), and gypsy moth caterpillars (out of their native environment, anyway) about a hundred of which I squished today, mostly on the cover of the barbecue grill. I have kind of been wondering if I should mention that to my husband, that they specks all over the grill cover are squished gypsy moth caterpillars. Hm. He reads this. Hey, Honey, about those specks...

And speaking of GMCs, there was an article in the newspaper today about the coming scourge, saying the infestation was about to start. Um, no, it has started. It also said that the time for rain to help us out by growing the fungus that kills them is May, so, do your rain dance, say your rain prayers...

Having said all that, the bugs in my backyard today were 99% uncooperative, so I was kind of miffed at them. But maybe they've been reading this blog, and don't think I have been saying enough good things about them, in which case, YAY BUGS!

Backyard Bug of the Day:

 Lace bug. It might be more accurate to say that this bug found me than I found it. It was crawling on my leg. Fortunately I realized it was not a tick.

I saw four different species of butterflies in my backyard today, which may be a Backyard Bug Record for Butterfly Species in a Single Day. None of them wanted their picture taken (though a couple of them pretended to be willing, and then flew off right at the last second).

 This is the only shot I got. It's the orange blur in the middle.

 There were a lot of click beetles around today.

Male and female? Different species? Variation within a species? I have no idea.

 I think this is a thrips. It is about the same size and color as the gypsy moth caterpillars at the moment (which is to say, small and dark), and it was crawling on the grill cover with the gypsy moth caterpillars, but fortunately for this harmless creature, I could tell by the way that it moved that it was not a gypsy moth caterpillar.

 An elegant, little wasp?

Some kind of insect eggs on the wall of the back porch.

When I went out to get the mail this morning I saw two spiders, so I had to go inside to get my camera and hope they would still be there when I got back (they were not web spiders, so it's not assured that they will hang around in the same spot). They were still there, and I got the shots, and assumed that meant today would be a good bug day. I don't know why I assume anything ever. Arachnid Appreciation:
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 This flower crab spider was on the mailbox post. It showed no interest in eating any of the multifarious gypsy moth caterpillars crawling around there.