Watch Your Step

When I watch a meteor shower there's this feeling of trying to look at the entire sky at once, because you never know where the next meteor is going to appear. It gives me a headache sometimes. But hey, I need to be able to see in every direction at the same time. When I am out looking for bugs it would certainly help to be able to look in every direction at the same time, but I can't do that (and not just because I don't want a headache), so I mostly tend to look to one side or the other as I walk my backyard paths. That is definitely where I am most likely to find bugs that I can photograph; I don't bother to look up much, because things I see looking up are generally too far away to photograph with a macro lens. Obviously, that's not always the case. But if there are bugs in a high tree, or flying overhead, it's nice to see them, but I can't take their picture. I also don't look at the ground a lot, even though I know there are bugs there. Bugs in the grass are really hard to photograph because they can disappear so easily. Certain species of crickets and beetles I see but don't get pictures of, because I don't see them very long. Also, taking pictures of things on the ground is physically awkward, and it's just easier to get the shot of something that is at my eye level already than to have to take the time to move my eye level down about 5 feet. Bugs can disappear in that amount of time (not that I am slow. But bugs are fast). The result of not looking at the ground during my bug walks is that there are a lot of things I don't see, and almost step on, and when they react to me almost stepping on them by jumping, or flying, or slithering out of my way is when I notice them. It can be startling–particularly if they are slithering. Snakes seem to wait until the last second before I am going to step on them and then zip away, so I see the sudden movement at my feet, and hear the slither, and it's always unsettling (probably because I am kind of afraid of snakes, even though they are clearly more afraid of me. After all, I am not the one running from these encounters). This is mostly how I happen to see frogs and toads–I nearly step on them, they jump out of the way, and that is how I know they are there. Funny thing about that, though, is that since I am seeing this out of a sort of downward peripheral vision, and they usually land before I can react to look at them directly, and they often look like dried leaves, I am sometimes not sure if I just saw a frog, or if I just happened to kick up a dried leaf. It happens with bugs, too, mostly moths that flutter up and away when I get too close to where they are hiding in the grass. Sometimes with other kinds of insects, too, like the grasshoppers that like to sit on my driveway lately, and leap into the rock garden when I get close to stepping on them. I am sure in a lot of cases I am not really that close to stepping on them, but they obviously aren't taking any chances. I tell them, when it was clear they were in no danger, that they should have just stayed still, because as a human, with comparatively pathetic senses, most of the time I would pass by without ever knowing they are there. However, I am glad when they do it, because then I get to see them. I just don't like it when they startle me.
So, you know there's a reason I brought this up...

No, I didn't have a snake encounter today. But this did leap up in front of me:

 Katydid. Notice how, despite it being a rather large insect, it's still not so easy to see. That is often the case with things that leap out of the way of my feet: they land somewhere and I still have a hard time finding them. That excellent blending in, however, is why they almost got stepped on in the first place. I do take in the ground at least a little when I am walking around looking at the foliage around me. If something is obvious, I see it.

Then I had my typical frog encounter: I almost stepped on it, and it leaped away:

 This was within a few feet of where I saw that frog emerge from the grass yesterday, so I assumed it was the same one, hanging around in that part of the backyard, but I walked a couple more steps after taking this picture, and...

 ... another frog hopped out of my way. For a moment I thought somehow it was the other frog, but aside from the fact that I looked back and the other one was still there, they actually look very different. This one has dark lines along those ridges on its back, and striped legs.

 These are two of the three frogs I nearly stepped on today. I didn't get a picture of the other, which is too bad, because it's a species I haven't seen lately. Another interesting thing, though, is that I have had frog encounters with this species several times in the same general area of my backyard in the last couple of weeks, and every time I wonder if I am seeing the same frog over and over, or are there a lot of frogs in that part of my backyard? Now I know there are at least 2.

Backyard Bug of the Day:

 I think that's an assassin bug. Given the state of this flower, and the general lack of popularity of the purple coneflowers this summer, I don't think it's going to be terribly successful at catching prey sitting there.

Still, well done on blending in.

Other Bugs:

I mentioned recently that I have been seeing a lot of crane flies lately, but I haven't been able to get pictures of them. Today I got four, of at least 3 species (it's hard to tell with the last one, it could be the same species as the first one):

Hover fly

I don't know what this puddle is that this wasp is drinking from. It didn't rain last night, and when I went out to do my bug walk it wasn't exactly dewy. But this leaf has at least a tablespoon of liquid on it from an unknown source, and is quite appealing to this wasp, because I watched it drink from there for quite a while.

I wish I'd been able to get a better picture of this hopper; it would be Backyard Bug of the Day.

Assassin bug

Bumblebee on asters

The two remaining contracted datanas

I am not sure if these two wasps are the same species or not:

Katydid

A couple of the many grasshoppers in the rock garden:

Bumblebee on bluebeard

Tree louse

Assassin bug nymph

This cricket is missing one of its back legs, but as a person who tried very hard to get a closer picture than this I can say that the lack did not hinder its movement much, if at all.

Weevil

A couple of tussock moth caterpillars again:

 White hickory tussock moth

 Banded tussock moth

I really wish one day I would find those, and a white marked tussock moth caterpillar and milkweed tussock moth caterpillar. It would be fun to have all those tussock moth caterpillars. And I think there are other species of tussock moths, though I don't think I have seen their caterpillars. It would be even more fun to have more of them in one day.

 I think this is a stinkbug. This is the best view I had of it.

 Tree cricket

 Fall webworm

Arachnid Appreciation:
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 Here's the spider I photographed last night in the middle of the night. I don't know what kind it is, other than that is is an orb weaver.

 During the day the web was completely gone, but the spider was back under its leaf. I checked quite late at night, and it did not build a new web tonight. I wonder if it's because it's so cold out. Why build a web if nothing is going to be flying around?

 Jumping spider

 Bowl-and-doily spider web

And there's the bowl-and-doily spider