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Ooof. Too much that was interesting in my backyard today. To be specific, it was the last day of October, and there were bugs all over the place. It was 68ºF, which is pretty warm for this date, the rain more or less abated for a while, long enough for me to do my bug walk, and blustery, a balmy, wet wind. Not good photography weather, but it sure brought out a lot of leaf hoppers!

There were bugs in a couple of particular locations: the mums in the rock garden, of course; on one side of the house and the adjacent garbage cans; on tree trunks. Mostly leaf hoppers–I only got pictures of a few, but there were many of them, and several species–but other bugs, too, of a variety of orders. I don't even know where to begin...

Okay, I'll begin with Backyard Co-Bug of the Day #1

 Leaf hopper. I looked it up, but could not figure out what kind it is.

Backyard Co-Bug of the Day #2:

 Moth fly. These are tiny flies that, as you can guess from the name, look like moths. I usually have a hard time getting pictures of them, because they can be skittish, but today they cooperated.

 In fact, there were several on this tree trunk.

Bugs on the Side of the House/Garbage Can:

 Banded tussock moth caterpillar. I thought these were all gone for the season.

 Looper caterpillar

Wood louse

 

 Tree cricket

I saw a lot of these hoppers, but most of the pictures didn't come out.

Bugs on Mums:

 Sweat bee

 Flower fly

A couple of flower flies

 Gnat

 March fly

Bumblebee

 It was extremely windy, so I had to hold the flowers for a lot of my pictures.

 Fly

 Fly

Also in the Rock Garden:

 Wasp

 March fly

 Grass hopper

 On Tree Trunks:

 Hopper

These next several were all on the same tree, within a space of about a square foot:

 Hoppers

 Rove beetle

 Weevil

These others were on different trees around the backyard:

 Tree cricket

 Hopper

 Woolly aphids

 Hopper

 Cricket

 Stinkbug

 Not an insect. A tiny mushroom growing on a tree trunk.

 Tiny leaf hopper, the same kind that was BBotD yesterday.

This picture is not what I wanted it to be, because of the wind, but there is a leaf hopper and a buffalo tree hopper (which flew away before I could get a better shot).

I'm not sure what this is, on the side of the shed.

On the Front Porch, Attracted to the Light:

I had the porch light on all evening for Trick-or-treaters, and forgot to turn it off until quite late in the evening. The storm was raging by then, and the wind was fierce while the temperature was still quite balmy, and there were several bugs that were not the kinds I usually see attracted to the porch light, like this robber fly.

And this tiny sweat bee. Bees are definitely not normal porch light attractees.

Looper caterpillar

Tree cricket. I do get those on the porch.

Arachnid Appreciation:
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Jumping spiders:

This one was on that tree trunk with the bugs.

A Welcome Home

Hello again. I'm back, and this is the sight that greeted my gaze when I opened my drapes this morning:

 Chrysanthemums in bloom! If you have a good eye you can see that there is one insect enjoying these flowers–at least, at that moment.

I planted these flowers last year for the sole reason that I wanted there to be flowers blooming this late in the season to feed the pollinators. Yes, the flowers are pretty, but I really didn't plant them for my own enjoyment–although I very much enjoy seeing them. I planted them for the insects. And the insects are taking advantage of the food source as intended:

 Fly

Funny thing happened when I moved in for a closer shot of this fly:

 Photobombed!

 I have no idea where that stilt bug appeared from. Looking back at the previous shots, it was not on that flower. It quite surprised me when it showed up in view.

 Tiny gnat

Several kinds of hover flies and flower flies fed there today:

 And one leaf hopper

Other Bugs:

 I saw only one grasshopper, and it was lethargic enough that I almost stepped on it. It was not sunny today, and they are definitely peppier when it's sunny, but it was about 65ºF when I was out for my bug walk.

 Leaf hopper. It had just landed, and its wings and elytra were spread out on landing–I thought it was a moth at first–and slowly closed in.

 March fly. I walked into a swarm of these today. This one was not part of the swarm, just resting on a bush.

 Crickets

And last but not least, Backyard Bug of the Day:

These tiny leaf hoppers were flying all over the place today. I saw quite a lot of them before I even went outside; they were landing on the skylight above my head while I was doing my physical therapy exercises, and then landing on the windows whenever I looked out. They landed near me a number of times when I was out doing my bug walk, but this is the only one I managed to photograph. They are tiny–probably less than a sixteenth of an inch–and don't sit still for photographs very often. Around this time of year I always see them, and rarely get pictures.

I didn't get to do a full bug walk today because it was drizzling when I went out and eventually developed into a steadier rain. I put up with the drizzle, shielding my camera under my shirt while I walked, but the full rain was too much. It's a bit iffy that I will be able to do another bug walk for a couple of days–if the forecast holds (which, let's be honest, it rarely does), it will be raining most of the time.