It's goldenrod season. I used to have a lot of goldenrod in my backyard, but now for some reason there's not as much, and instead of having a big patch of it there are plants scattered around in different spots. Goldenrod is a bug magnet. It attracts a lot of bees, many species, but is also very popular with wasps, beetles, butterflies, moths, grasshoppers, caterpillars, flies, and various predatory insects and spiders that hide out among the tiny blooms to feed on all of the aforementioned insects that are there for the nectar and pollen. Right now there is one particular plant, right next to the house, that seems to be the most popular, but its location is such that, to my great frustration, I can't get close enough to it to take pictures of the plethora of insects on it, which can be a dozen or so at a time, of multiple species. There is a patch of it in a clearing in the woods, though, so today I took my camera there. For the most part there were bumblebees, tiny ones (by bumblebee standards), and a lot of wasps, most of which were frustratingly unwilling to be photographed. I saw one plant that had at least ten little bumblebees on it at once, and as soon as I turned my camera in that direction, all but one of them buzzed off. Anyway, the pictures I am going to share are not going to give you anywhere near the understanding of how popular the goldenrod is right now. But I'll give it a go.
Backyard Bug of the Day:
Ailanthus webworm moth. Of all the times I have seen these in "the wild," meaning somewhere other than on my front porch, drawn to the light, there have maybe only been one or two when they were on a plant other than goldenrod.
Other Bugs on the Goldenrod:
Two bumblebees of different sizes. I don't know if these are different species or not, because they look the same, other than that one of them is really small. The small bumblebees were by far more numerous than any other species I saw today.
And as for the predators I mentioned...
This fly has become prey...
... to an ambush bug.
Tiny fly that I think is new to me. I guess I should have made it Backyard Bug of the Day.
One of the many wasp species I saw on goldenrod today... and the only one I managed to photograph.
Bee
Other Bugs:
Monarch caterpillar, taken on my woods walk with my phone. The reason I went back to the woods with my regular camera was also to take a picture of this caterpillar, but it was gone when I went back. I hope it had just moved and I couldn't find it, not that it was eaten.
The fall webworms are growing...
Also on the milkweed patch, suddenly several large milkweed bugs. I saw one small milkweed bug, too, but I wasn't able to get a picture of that species:
In the woods I found this caterpillar. It's an early instar, very small, possibly and American dagger moth:
Milkweed tussock moth caterpillar. This one is growing right up next to the grill, but far enough from the heat that it's not a problem for the plant or any insects on it.
Katydid
Green stinkbug
I was sitting under a tree when this caterpillar suddenly dropped down onto my arm:
It was thrashing around like it was trying to scrape something off its back...
... and I wonder if those are parasite eggs that it was trying to get rid of.
There are two bees in this picture, the honeybee on the flower, and a sweat bee... can you see the second bee?
Something has broken into the egg that fell from the mourning dove nest unbroken last week.
Arachnid Appreciation:
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I think this is a goldenrod crab spider:
It looks like it wants a hug.
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