Backyard Co-Bug of the Day #1:
Grasshopper nymph. I only saw it because it hopped in front of me, and then I couldn't find it again until it hopped again.
Backyard Co-Bug of the Day #2:
First bee of spring! There was another one, too, on the same tree, but it flew away before I could get a picture.
The bees were on the candy striped leaf hoppers' favorite tree:
There weren't a lot of them out today, but there are 4 here.
I don't know what this is. It is on an oak branch, and the oak tree only just lost its leaves from last year (they turn brown in the fall, but many of them stay on the tree until spring), so I didn't see it before now. It looks like a caterpillar's cocoon, but it has that hole in it, and appears to be full of debris, and have eggs laid on it. It could actually BE a cocoon, and the moth has emerged and laid her eggs on it. That happens.
Closer look at the eggs and the jumble of things inside.
Twice stabbed lady beetle
Not sure if this is a wasp or a winged ant.
Winter fireflies
Sawfly, I think.
I am not happy to see what I think is a sawfly on this tree. Last summer sawfly larvae almost completely defoliated this tree.
Beetle
Rove beetle, I think.
... and so when I got out of the car I walked down the driveway to see, and sure enough, it was a woolly bear, crawling around on a rock. I asked my husband to go inside and get my camera, while I kept an eye on it...
... and when he came back with the camera he spotted this scurrying around on the rock. I think it is a bristletail.
I saw a lot of spiders today for Arachnid Appreciation:
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Mostly jumping spiders:
This one has caught something.
An itsy-bitsy jumping spider
This is the only species of jumping spider that I know the name of… bold jumping spider. I think.
You'll have to look closely to find this one.