Sunshine and Bugs

More fun weather swings! Sunday night: 67ºF. Monday afternoon: 57ºF. Monday night: ~40ºF. Tuesday afternoon: 56ºF. Sunday night: Rain. Monday: Completely overcast. Tuesday: Sunny! With the downward trend of the temperature, particularly the very cold night (it might have gone down into the 30s, I'm not sure), and the afternoon temperature today about the same as the very un-buggy day yesterday, I wasn't expecting to find any bugs today, but I was wrong. It was a surprisingly buggy day, buggier than the pictures will show, because I didn't get pictures of the dragonfly or the bees that I saw. Or most of the flies, of which there were more than a few.

Backyard Co-Bug of the Day #1:

 Beetle that wouldn't sit still for me the other day. The good thing about cold weather is that it slows bugs down. The bad thing about sunshine (if I can even say such a thing) is that it warms them up to be feisty again. I was at least able to get a shot before it flew away. I think when I saw this a few days ago it was a new species for me, so though it was not new today, it is new this year. Also it's very small–less than a quarter inch long. [Edit: I don't have a very good memory. This was Backyard Bug of the Day about a month ago].

Backyard Co-Bug of the Day #2:

 I couldn't find this in my books, but it is some kind of Hemiptera, and I would guess some kind of hopper.

Other Bugs:

 Jagged ambush bug

 Leaf hopper

 Yesterday's caterpillar was still on the same plant, but it had moved down the stem quite a bit.

 Plant hopper

 The March flies were suddenly numerous today–up until now I've only seen one or two per day–and they were swarming. This one landed on my hand for a while. Of the ones I have examined closely enough to tell, all have been male so far.

 March flies are now the thing to prey on.

 Tree cricket

 Fly

 Angle wing katydid wings, on an oak tree. They are quite large for insect eggs, but they are quite large insects, so that makes sense. I am guessing that they will overwinter as eggs, and hatch in the spring.

 Grasshopper, the first I have seen in a few days.

Arachnid Appreciation:
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 There are a lot of these tiny spiders around lately.

 This spined micrathena has had a web in the same spot for about the last 2 weeks, and today there was no web, but she was still on the branch where the web has been attached. I think last night was probably too cold to build a web.

Six-spotted orb weaver with March fly prey