Early Bee

What do I always say is the law of nature? If there is something to eat, there will be something to eat it. Well, it's still February, but there are flowers blooming:

 Close to the concrete foundation of the sunny side of the house is a warm microclimate, and that is where the first of the creeping myrtle flowers bloom. It's pretty early for this, but today was almost 60ºF–this isn't a normal winter.

And since flowers are blooming... Along came Backyard Bug of the Day:

 Okay, I know it's really hard to see...

A sweat bee. I saw this when I went out to get the mail, so this picture was taken with my cellphone, which I had in my pocket, not my real camera. I know I am breaking my rule about only choosing something as BBotD if I have a good picture of it, but I don't often see bees in February, so for this extenuating circumstance, and because I was so happy to see it... well, here it is.

 And it's in here somewhere, too.

For the warmth and sunniness of the day there were surprisingly few bugs out, but here are today's Other Bugs:

 Stonefly, looks like a gravid female, perhaps?

 There were lots of flies around.

 Today there were more candy striped leaf hoppers:

Arachnid Appreciation:
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 Jumping spider

Velvet mite