Things

Today we're going to focus more on quality than quantity. Because I didn't find many bugs, but I found some cool things.

Backyard Co-Bug of the Day #1:

Some kind of weevil. I think weevils are cute, and this is the first one I have seen this year. It doesn't look completely familiar, but I am not going to say it's new for me, because... well, it might not be. There are a lot of weevils that look very similar.

The color is different depending on the angle you look at it from.

Backyard Co-Bug of the Day #2:

I don't know what this is. It kind of looks like it's the larval stage of a beetle? Or... an adult beetle? It's really small, less than an eight of an inch.

Also, I didn't notice until I was looking at the pictures on the computer, but there's a photobomber that sneaked into a few shots.

Other Bugs:

 Birch catkin bug

 I've been trying for a couple of days to get a picture to show the size variation of winter fireflies. That larger one isn't even particularly large.

 A pair of flies...

 Twice-stabbed lady beetle

Stoneflies seem to really like artificial green things in my backyard. I've found them on the picnic table, which is green (and blue, because I spray-painted some things blue on there without putting anything down first. But I digress...). And also...

 ...Lawn chairs...

 ... and garden stakes.

I found something really cool for Arachnid Appreciation:
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 I don't feel like getting into a whole explanation here, but that is a spider in my shoe.

 And here it is climbing out of my shoe.

 And here it is on the rock where I put my shoe to take a picture of the spider when it was in my shoe.

 Here's what I am 99% sure is going on here: The spider is standing in that funny posture with its back end in the air so that it can release silk threads into the wind. Then what happens is the threads catch onto something and the spider is able to crawl on the thread over to wherever it got caught up.

 You can glimpse a side view of the spineret here. I didn't happen to catch a shot of the thread; the light has to hit it just right to get a picture.

 Here I thought the spider had fallen over on its back, but it was holding onto the newly attached thread from underneath, and pulled itself along to a nearby sapling.

Snake of the Day:
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 I wasn't sure whether to expect a snake today. It was chilly, in the mid-40s, but sunny. There wasn't one out there when I went to get the mail, but there it was when I went out on my bug walk. It is looking more like a black racer now, it's darker, and a bit glossier, I think.

 It also acted a bit more like a black racer, zooming away down its hole when I got too close.

Can you see the last bit of it as it disappears?