Life Events

Most of the time when I find insects in my backyard they are flying, sitting around apparently doing nothing, or eating. Fairly often I find them engaged in mating. Sometimes I see them excreting waste. I don't think I have ever managed to find one in the wild that was in the process of becoming a pupa, or emerging from pupation (though I have seen both of those events when I have raised caterpillars into butterflies in my dining room). On a few occasions I have seen insects emerging from eggs. But another insect behavior that I have seen only rarely, maybe three times total, is laying eggs. I saw a lady beetle doing it once. I have seen butterflies do it, sort of, but never close enough to really SEE it. And today I saw a stinkbug laying eggs on a leaf:

 And life goes on.

Speaking of eggs:

The robins have begun brood #3 on the front porch. Brood number two only had two eggs, and they were taken by a predator (I assume) before they could hatch. I know robins will have a few broods over the course of the summer, but never before have they used the nest on the front porch more than once in a season. Every time I think I can go back to using the front door, the robins decide to lay more eggs.

Backyard Bug of the Day:

 I think this is a painted lady butterfly.

On black-eyed Susan, of course.

Other Bugs:

 Japanese beetle. An introduced pest, but I think they are pretty.

 The new chrysalis from yesterday. Part of it is still green, so I guess that's what it is supposed to look like.

 The leaf damage I observed on this milkweed leaf yesterday has increased quite a bit.

 The caterpillars are big eaters.

 Leaf hoppers

 Looper caterpillar

 Katydid nymph

 Thick headed fly

 Beetle

 There were a lot of moths flying around today.

 Fall webworm, I think.

 Some kind of pupa

 The monarch caterpillar has grown a great deal in the last two days.

 Ants on an unfortunate caterpillar

 Plume moth

 Such a tiny looper

 Grasshopper nymph

 Baby assassin bug (okay, it's a nymph, not a baby).

Arachnid Appreciation:
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 A pair of crab spiders on black-eyed Susan

Harvestman and some kind of insect egg


Reptile of the Day:
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