Bug Spotting

Lately I have had a lot of days when I have a hard time finding bugs, and I sometimes wonder if the problem is not that there are fewer bugs, but that I have lost my ability to find them. I was thinking that today about halfway through my bug walk, having found two spiders and nothing else (other than the obvious bees and flying things that wouldn't sit still for photos), but then I spotted something that blended in really well with its background, and realized that I can still find things when they are out there. I then found a few more things on today's bug walk that were, if I do say so myself, extraordinarily difficult to spot, so... at the moment at least I am not feeling like I've just lost my touch. Of course, that doesn't answer the question of why there have been so few bugs around lately. I do wonder if our recent string of nights with temperatures in the 40s has something to do with it.

One of the bugs that blended in so well was today's Backyard Bug of the Day:

 This picture probably doesn't give a great impression of how well it blended in, but I am sure you get the idea.

Buffalo leaf hopper

I took other pictures today, but the picture uploader on this site, which has always been awful, has lately become much worse. Every night for about the last week I have had to reload nearly the entire set of pictures at least three times. Tonight I just don't want to do that anymore. I am tired, and frustrated, and having spent over an hour and a half loading pictures already tonight, I don't want to spend two more doing it all over again. Maybe tomorrow I will try them again, if I can bring myself to do it, knowing I will just have to deal with the same stupid frustrations again for tomorrow's blog. Maybe not.

Other Bugs:

 Sweat bee and raspberry blossom

 Lots of robber flies around today:

 

 

 I experienced a dramatic moment while trying to photograph this caterpillar. You probably can't tell from the picture, but it was tiny, probably less than a quarter of an inch long, and when I spotted it (which was an impressive feat, believe me), it was lying along the edge of a leaf. I focused in on it really close, about like you see here, and just as I was about to press the shutter button a spider leaped upon from apparently out of nowhere, and they both tumbled off the edge of the leaf! I gasped and pulled back, and saw the caterpillar dangling from the leaf, about two inches down, from its silk thread. The spider I never saw again. I moved the caterpillar back onto the leaf, and it went along its merry way.

 

 Here's a good look, by the way, at the caterpillar's many eyes.

 Leaf hopper nymph

 Arachnid Appreciation:
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