Quintessential Insects

Most bugs around here are primarily summer bugs. There are a few that peak in the spring or fall, but bugs are generally a summer thing. But there are some bugs that stand out as quintessentially summery, the ones that you notice as part of your summer experience. You'll see butterflies from the spring into the fall, but you only see fireflies on summer nights, and it is in the summer that you hear the songs of crickets through your open window at night and really feel like it's summer. Of course, what I have realized is that you can hear crickets into the fall, but I usually have to go outside to hear them, because it's too chilly to sleep with the window open. But nobody hears crickets and night and thinks, 'ah, autumn!' They are part of summer's mystique. (I have heard them on December days during REALLY mild years). Today is, of course, an autumn day, either early or mid, depending on which start date for autumn you are using. It felt like winter, because the last couple of weeks have been way below normal temperatures, and the temperatures we've been getting are more like December than October. So it's a little bit ironic that so many of the insects I saw today were those quintessentially summer bugs. Granted, the fireflies that I saw were winter fireflies, which can be seen year round if the weather is mild enough. And they don't even light up in their adult stage, having bioluminescence only as larvae. But this is what I'm going with: summer bugs on a wintery autumn afternoon. (There is no Backyard Bug of the Day today, because there wasn't really anything that I could choose).

Here's what I found in my backyard today:

 The rock garden was in the sun, which means it was warmer than most of the backyard, and so it was buggier. All that means, though, is that there were a few grasshoppers hopping around. I didn't find any other bugs there, although I could hear crickets. The fallen leaf definitely lets you know what season this really is.

 I did find a cricket on the driveway nearby.

 Winter firefly. These were on tree trunks around the backyard...

Winter firefly and cricket. Today in the backyard summed up in one picture.

Tree cricket

 Ant on the rocks in front of the house. Another warmer microclimate of the yard, since it gets full sun all of the time.

 Candy striped leaf hopper

 The honeysuckle vines are not all convinced that summer is over; there are a few blooms here and there.

Goldenrod holdouts are rare now.

I'm breaking a rule by posting this picture of a stinkbug, because I didn't take this picture. It's very hard to take a picture of a bug crawling up the back of your pantleg, though, so I got my husband to take this picture. Then after I flicked the bug off, I couldn't find where it ended up, and one of us accidentally stepped on it. I feel bad about that.

Bagworm/case-bearing caterpillar. Dangling from goldenrod, but without much of the seed fluff, so you can see the case better.

Arachnid Appreciation:
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 The nursery web spider is still on the wilted morning glory vine, but in a different spot. I didn't see any flies today, though, but that might be because at the time I was out there this part of the backyard was in the shade, and so not as warm. There may have been flies earlier when it was sunnier there.

 Flower crab spider on deer netting

 Six-spotted orb weaver