Who's Afraid?

Today I've been thinking about people who don't like bugs, and how I used to be one of them, and how frightening some things in my backyard might be to someone who is afraid of bugs.

For instance, the sumac flowers are in bloom, and they attract a LOT of different kinds of pollinating insects, many of which sting. So as I stood there watching, among a swarm of different stinging things, it occurred to me that if I was afraid of bees, or afraid of bugs, I would be terrified. But the only thing I was afraid of was that if I got too close with my camera, I would scare the bugs away. Because it is as they say–they are more afraid of me, than I am of them. On the other hand, if I hated bugs, or was afraid of them, I probably wouldn't have been standing there anyway; sumac flowers aren't much to look at if you're not looking for the bugs among them.

 Case in point: this cluster of flowers had at least fifteen insects on it before I leaned in with the camera. Almost all of them flew away instantly. This beetle stuck around for about two seconds longer.

A few of the insects came back when I backed off a bit.

 This is a different clump of flowers. I can see seven different insects here, I think...

 They come and go very quickly.

Backyard Bug of the Day:

 Some kind of hopper nymph, I think.

 You can see the beginnings of wing development.

 

 Weevil

 Some day I'll figure out what these are. There are two kinds of nymphs here.

Sometimes I take pictures of bugs when I'm not even trying. In fact, it's almost hard NOT to take pictures of bugs when I'm just trying to take a picture of a flower.

 Red milkweed beetles

 This picture was taken a few minutes later...

Remember yesterday when I posted what I thought might be a wingless wasp, or might be a recently eclosed female gypsy moth caterpillar?

 Found on the same tree trunk today, so presumably the same moth, a definite gypsy moth caterpillar. With an egg mass.

 This messy egg mass is in the spot where I found her yesterday.

The other thing that got me thinking about people who are afraid of bugs and spiders was an article I just read about E. B. White. Apparently just before Charlotte's Web was published, he was asked by his editor to explain (for the benefit of others–she understood it) why he chose to write a book with a spider as a protagonist. He wrote back to her about his fascination with spiders, and how he wished that children would not be turned against them by fearful and hateful adults. He told a story about going on a trip, and bringing along a spider and her egg sac from his barn, because he wanted to see the spiderlings when they hatched. It was a lovely, affectionate account. And I agree with him, I wish that we weren't taught to hate and fear insects and spiders when we're young. I know that doesn't happen to everyone, and I don't think anyone purposely makes their kids afraid of these things. And I think a lot of the fear we come by intuitively, or we learn from being stung by something. But when you take insects and spiders as a whole, they are hated a lot more than they have ever earned or deserve (Unlike, say, gypsy moth caterpillars, which are probably not so loathsome in their natural habitat). Especially spiders. So, here's to spiders, and some Arachnid Appreciation:
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.

 

 You might have caught a glimpse of this in one of the pictures above: flower crab spiders lurk among flowers to grab the insects that come for nectar and pollen. It looks like this one has caught a beetle.