Enticing Butterfly

I got home from an appointment early this afternoon feeling grouchy. The appointment was frustrating, it was hot and humid, and I wanted to go in the house and take a nap. But... as I mounted the back porch steps an eastern tiger swallowtail butterfly swooped in to feed on a patch of honeysuckle. I watched. I haven't been able to take a picture of an eastern tiger swallowtail butterfly in a couple of years. The last couple of years I hardly even saw any, and they were all high in the trees. This one was down at my level, feeding on flowers. It stayed; there were lots of honeysuckle flowers. I reminded myself that I don't chase butterflies. I told myself that if I went inside and got my camera the butterfly would be gone by the time I got back. I told myself that I didn't want to do a bug walk in the heat and humidity, that I just wanted to take a nap. 

Then I went inside and got my camera.

The butterfly was gone by the time I got back.

Of course. So I didn't get a picture of an eastern tiger swallowtail butterfly. But...

Backyard Bug of the Day:

Eastern tiger swallowtail caterpillar. It's pretty late instar, I think this is close to being ready to pupate. I don't know if you can tell, but if it looks like it is hovering away from the surface of the leaf that is because it is. It has made a mat of silk a bit like a hammock that it rests on when it is not eating. From past observation it seems like eastern tiger swallowtail caterpillars never eat, they just hang out on their hammocks. It's a little annoying to realize that this has been hanging out about 3 steps from my back porch for weeks and I did not notice it until today. That's what I get for not doing bug walks. Well, I did two today; one after not getting a picture of the butterfly, and one in the evening just because I felt like it. I found this near the end of that second walk, about a foot away from where I saw the butterfly in the afternoon.

I saw a lot of butterflies today. Here's the only one I got a photo of:

I went to check on some milkweed, looking for monarch caterpillars, or any of the other insects that are partial to milkweed, and I found this skipper.

The milkweed is just starting to bloom, attracting bees...

 

 And a plume moth. In years past I have sometimes found up to a dozen plume moths on a milkweed plant.

Cockroach

Buffalo leaf hopper nymph

Moth on fern

Common mullein is a plant I find in my backyard every year. It has big leaves that spread out at the bottom, and a tall spike, up to about 5 or 6 feet tall, that has yellow flowers at the top. The plant is very fuzzy, from the leaves up to the flower buds. It also attracts a variety of insects:

This one is not blooming yet, but today I found quite a few bugs among the buds.

I think this is a robber fly, eating a tiny wasp.

The back porch tree continues to be full of living things, mostly aphids and their attendant ants:

So many aphids...

Syrphid fly larva, which feeds on aphids. The "head" end is on the left. These things don't look like they have eyes at all, just a mouth. Their back end anchors to the plant and the mouth end kind of flops around trying to find aphids to eat. It's pretty creepy to watch. Okay, I just looked it up, they don't have heads, eyes, or "chewing mouthparts."

Lady beetle larva...

 

... and pupa

I have been keeping an eye on the two furcula caterpillars on the back porch tree, but for the last couple of days I have not been able to find them. Then today I spotted this one, in this exact position. The thing behind it that appears to be a tiny replica of it is its exuvia, the skin is just molted out of. When I looked at it a couple of hours later the exuvia was gone, possibly eaten by the caterpillar itself.

 Last week I saw a bunch of these larvae on a leaf together:

They looked like they were a couple of days old, and had eaten much of the leaf of the pussywillow plant they were on. Yesterday I saw two of them on a leaf together. Today I could only find one. Many of the leaves of the pussywillow have similar damage, so I think maybe the larvae dispersed around the plant. Many of them may have been eaten, too; that is why insects have large broods, because many of them will not mature to imago (adult) stage.

Definitely not a ladybeetle, but I don't know what kind of larva this is.

 Some other kind of very small beetle

Now, the bugs from the last few days:

June 17:

Syrphid fly larva, and an aphid that would be smart to keep its distance.

June 20:

I think this is some kind of sphinx moth caterpillar. I don't feel like explaining why, but I think that brown goo is its vomit that is part of a complicated "don't eat me!" display. I found this caterpillar when I cut the grape vine it was on while walking in the woods. Then I had to walk back to the house to get my camera (I wasn't that far along on my walk). I then figured at least I would have my camera when I saw more bugs on my walk. 

This is the only other animal I saw:

Not a bug.

June 22:

I have a railroad crossing sign next to my driveway (but not a railroad), and I noticed that some wasps had built a nest in there. It is about the size of a softball. I could not get too close while taking these pictures, because it is when they feel their nest is threatened that they become aggressive.

 

Arachnid Appreciation:

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On a milkweed plant. If the milkweed was covered with the myriad bugs for which it is host this would be a great place for a spider. But it was pretty lonely.

Spider egg sac. I have seen these for years, and it has always been obvious to me that it is an egg sac, but I could never find out what it was until someone commented on one last year in the insect group I am in on Facebook. So now I know it is a spider egg sac. Either there are not very many spiderlings in there, or they are incredibly tiny, because this thing is probably less than a quarter inch in diameter.

Backyard Reptile of the Day:

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Garter snake. It was pretty small, so a juvenile. Found on a walk in the woods, photographed with my phone.

Just once, though, I would like the Backyard Reptile of the Day to be a turtle or tortoise.