Windy

Slow shutter speed + Macro lens + Wind = Frustrated and disappointed insect photographer.

Everything is blurry today. I felt like giving up only a few minutes into my bug walk on this dreary, windy day. I finished my walk, but looking at the pictures now just confirms what I thought then, which is that it was a waste of my time today. Except that it was time spent outside, and at least I saw cool things. I am just not able to show you all of it.

Harrumph. The good news is, there will be another butterfly eclosure tomorrow.

Backyard Bug of the Day:

 Some kind of Hemiptera nymph

Other Bugs:

 The viceroy caterpillar has eaten at least two leaves since yesterday. Last I saw it today, it was eating the stems.

 This is the southern oak dagger moth caterpillar that was BBotD a few days ago. I get the impression that it eats only the top layer of the leaves, which leaves the leaf (sorry) looking like it has lost its color in the fall. What it also does is make it easy for the caterpillar to blend in.

 A couple of leaf hoppers

 Candy striped leaf hopper

A row of weevils

More weevils, looking kind of cuddly

 

 A stinkbug giving an excellent view of how insects of the order Hemiptera eat, by sucking the liquids of either a prey insect or a plant (depending on the species) through their proboscis.

I believe the stinkbug is dining on one of these, a sawfly larva, though I don't know how it ended up with just a portion of one. I am not aware of any abilities of cutting up prey insects.

Immature stinkbug of a different species

Red-banded hairstreak butterfly. I read recently that these are rare in southern New England, but while they may not exactly be common in my backyard, they are by no means an unusual visitor.

Arachnid Appreciation:

 This is an arrow-shaped micrathena spider. In the seconds after I spotted it, two small insects landed on its web. In this shot it is holding one of them, probably injecting it with venom. It does make it look like the small fly's eyes are the spider's eyes, but I assure you, they're not.

 Here it is holding the other prey insect (a long-legged fly) while the first one marinates in venom, wrapped up in silk beside the spider.

The dorsal view of the spider. It's quite striking.

 Jumping spider