Flight Time

The baby birds of the front porch fledged today, and their first flight was triggered by me. I had to go up the front steps onto the front porch, and as soon as I put my foot on the first step they burst out of the nest and flew. I didn't get a good look at them, because I ducked, and was just kind of hoping that their parents' wouldn't attack me–they were very vocal about their displeasure–but it seemed like a strong first attempt at flight. Obviously they were ready to go. I expected them to go yesterday. I still don't know what ever happened to the third chick. I wish them good luck out in the wild, and am happy to be able to use my front door again.

Backyard Amphibian of the Day:

 This toad was hanging out in and near a flowerbed today for most of the afternoon. Several times I went by and it was just outside the bed, and when I tried to get a picture, it would jump to safety among the ground cover. This is the best shot I got. I think it's the same species that I took a picture of a few days ago, but this one was about half the size.

Backyard Co-Bug of the Day #1:

 Hoverfly

 

 More hoverflies, which will beget even more hoverflies.

Backyard Co-Bugs of the Day #2:

 Treehoppers. From my bug book it looks like these might be Publilia concava, but it is specific about their host plants, and that's not where I found them. Anyway, probably at least the same genus.

Other Bugs:

 There have been a lot of flies around lately.

Mostly they don't stick around to be photographed, but I have seen a lot of them resting on leaves.

Today I saw a lot of bugs, of various species, resting on leaves, which a month ago was something I wasn't seeing just because there weren't so many leaves. It was still pretty blustery today, though, so I didn't get many pictures. However,  I found two more bees in a catatonic state, stuck to leaves:

 I suspect they are possibly infected with a fungus, if not a parasite. These are both the same species of bee as the one a few weeks ago that I found like this.

 

 Beetle

 Leaf hopper

Even more white marked tussock moth caterpillars are hatching:

 Somewhere in there is a spittlebug nymph, hiding from the world in its pile of bubbles.

 Ants tending to aphids

 I almost fell for this "I'm a twig" act. Looper caterpillar.

 Sawfly larva. This is an unusual spot to find one, climbing up the trunk of a tree.

 Assassin bug nymph

I'm finding a lot of weevils this week:

 

White fly

Arachnid Appreciation:
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Orchard spider

Two bowl-and-doily spiders on the same web. They seem to have slightly different body shapes, so I am guessing this is a male and female.