I tried and failed to buy a pair of rain boots today. With all the rain we've had in the last few months the backyard is often squishy, but as the weather warms up I am not going to want to wear my winter boots, so I figured I finally need rain boots. My shopping expedition was not successful. I haven't owned a pair of rain boots since elementary school, but for a few years I have thought that it might be useful to have a pair of wellies for when the ground is too saturated for me to want to squelch around in my garden clogs. Like my garden clogs, though, I will also limit my wearing of such boots, if I manage to acquire a pair, to my backyard. They are by nature hideous footwear. I don't think I could go out in public in them. But the bugs don't mind what I wear on my feet, as long as I don't step on them.
Given that it was 60ºF when I went outside for my bug walk I was hoping for a lot more than I found, but at least I found something new for Backyard Bug of the Day:
Just teasing. There are two of them there, but here's a better view:
Female moth, possibly either a tussock moth or a geometer moth. In some species of moths the females have no wings, or have tiny, useless wings. They emerge from their cocoons and just stay around where they emerged, emitting pheromones to attract a mate; meanwhile, the males have wings and they fly around trying to find females. The female will then lay her eggs, and that's it for her life span. I can't tell if that's a droplet of something sticking out of her back end, or some kind of organ, but my guess would be that that is how she is emitting her pheromones.
She then retracted that.
I don't know what species it is, but I know it is not a white marked tussock moth, because though that is another wingless female moth, it doesn't look like this.
The candy striped leaf hoppers were out:
And midges:
Female...
...and male.
Arachnid Appreciation:
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Spider eating a midge
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