Music Morning and Night

There was something else wonderful in my backyard that I forgot to mention here, both times I wrote the blog post: the crickets are singing! Last night when I went out onto the back porch to enjoy some sky time I could hear them–they sounded faint, and kind of far away, but it was definitely crickets serenading me instead of tree frogs. And tonight they are singing again, much closer to the house this time. Crickets are another one of the million overlapping seasons in my backyard. Now all I need is the start to firefly season (the kind that actually light up at night, as opposed to winter fireflies, which are diurnal and lack light organs), so that I can enjoy my sky time with a light show along with the insect orchestra.

And speaking of song... Backyard Bird of the Day:

 When I went out to get the mail today I could hear a bird singing somewhere in the backyard, and it was a beautiful song, so I went wandering around to find the bird. And here it is, waaaaaay up in a tree. I didn't get a great look at it, or good pictures of it, but I am pretty sure it's a Baltimore oriole. Funny thing, a couple of days ago I was having a conversation about birds with my mother-in-law, and I mentioned that we used to get Baltimore orioles nesting in our backyard every year, but that I haven't seen any in a while. They have a beautiful song. I enjoyed just listening to it today. I hope it is going to nest in my backyard, so I can hear that song some more.

Other Birds:

 Baby mourning dove

On the right is the eye of one of the babies. On the left is the back end of the mother, I think.

 Today the babies were on the nest alone at least part of the time. And for the first time in ages I heard a mourning dove cooing, which, unlike the song of the oriole, I cannot stand the sound of. I don't know if it was the babies cooing, or one of the parents, they were doing it when I was in a different part of the yard.

Backyard Bug of the Day:

 Moth on the back porch. I couldn't find it in my books.

Other Bugs:

 Assassin bug. Check out that proboscis.

 I think this is a weevil; on milkweed.

 Sawfly larva

 The hairstreak caterpillars are still eating the flower buds on the same bush.

 A view I didn't get yesterday, the face. Their heads are usually hooded by their... I have no idea what that part of their anatomy is called.

 Aphid

 Moth

Arachnid Appreciation:
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I think this might be a trash-line orb weaver. Here it is dismantling its web, probably preparing to build a new one. I should have gone back out later to check, but I forgot.

An unfortunate back porch moth that landed on the spider web built near the light.