Short Walks

I didn't have a lot of time to look around the backyard today, but I think the time was well spent. And I did two bug walks, actually, one in the morning, and one in the afternoon. What is surprising to me is that I found more bugs in the morning, in less time, than I did in the afternoon.

Backyard Bug of the Day:

 I've been saying these are case bearing moths, but they might be bagworms. There are several species of both, I think (neither the internet nor my books were any help here. My caterpillar book doesn't even have a section on these!). These make their cases, which I think look like grass skirts, in part out of the seed fluff from goldenrod. That is usually where I find them, but this one has been hanging out on some autumn joy sedum.

 They can retract all the way into their cases.

Other Bugs:

 Wasp

 Colorado potato beetle. It's elytron is a bit damaged.

 Why are stiltbugs so hard to photograph well?

 Fly

 Assassin bug

 Ladybeetle.

All of the above were from the morning ten minutes or so I spent out with my camera. The rest (except the spiders) are from the afternoon's half hour:

Thread-waisted wasp, in a stupor from the chilly temperature.

 Its lethargy meant I could get really close to it.

 This is the larval case of a species of micromoth (speaking of which, since I couldn't find case moths or bagworms in my books, I looked on line to find a field guide for micromoths, and there were several, which I was excited to see until I found out they were all for England/UK). It cuts two of these ovals from a leaf and glues them together with silk. It goes around like the case moth above for a while–I sometimes find them dangling from trees–and then when it is ready to pupate it attaches the case to a surface with more silk and closes itself up inside to become a chrysalis.

 This cricket has been in the same spot for days, but today it was standing, as it were, instead of flat against the tree trunk.

 Candy striped leaf hopper

Arachnid Appreciation:
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When I emptied the rain gauge I found two of these hiding under/behind it, and I from their reactions to each other I don't think either knew the other was there. They didn't much like me and my camera, either, so both quickly found places to hide out of sight of me and each other.