Cranes, Stones, and Clicks

 I wasn't going to bother to bring my camera on my walk today. It was overcast and cold, and even though the forecast said it wasn't going to rain, I wasn't so sure. But I had time, and I like to take pictures, and so I put on my camera harness after I put on my hiking shoes. It turned out to be a good decision, because there were bugs everywhere today. Strangely, though, they were mostly in a couple of orders (groups? Families? I can never keep those straight). 

Let's start with Backyard Bug of the Day:

Crane fly. This is a pretty big crane fly, and I am not sure I have ever seen this species before.

I saw a lot of crane flies today, and not just a lot of individuals, I saw several different species.

 

That's not a stinger; crane flies are harmless, they don't sting. That is an ovipositor; this is a female.

I also saw a lot of stoneflies:

Mostly on ferns.

 

I'm actually not sure if this is a stonefly. It's head looks like it, but the wings aren't curved around the body like other stoneflies.

 

 

And click beetles:

Also mostly on ferns. I saw a lot of insects on ferns.
 

 And caddisflies:

Sometimes I just find wings with no bugs attached. 

And then there were all the random bugs I saw today:

The wild cherry tree next to my front walk has lots of lace bugs on it.

The clematis vine is a popular meeting spot for stilt bugs.

Ant in a dandelion

March fly?

Fly on maple leaf viburnum buds

I wish I'd gotten a better picture of this moth:

It has really clever camouflage:

This time of year, with all the leaves opening, you see these bits of the plant that covered the tightly curled leaves over the winter. Now when they are open, these little bits have fallen off, and they're everywhere, and this moth looks just like one. What better way to avoid being eaten than to look like something nothing is eating? 

I mean, you definitely want to hide from this bug:

Assassin bug

I think this is a sawfly.

I don't know what this tiny bug is, but it's got an impressive proboscis:

This has to be a predator of some kind. 

 After my walk we went out in the woods to work on clearing a fallen tree from a trail, and I didn't bring my camera back out with me, because I was working, and I wouldn't want to break it. I found a couple of interesting bugs, and had to photograph them with my phone:

This is a leaf-footed bug with a leg missing, and a broken-off elytra (the hard covering over the wings). Bugs are pretty resilient, and can survive with some pretty heavy damage. I was surprised to see that this bug is blue underneath its elytra, but then I remembered that as nymphs, before they have grown wings, these bugs are a beautiful sapphire blue. They look like jewels. So I guess it makes sense that they are still blue, and I just never knew because the elytra are black.

Moth that looks like an autumn leaf, on fern

I didn't bring my camera on my walk yesterday, so I had to take this picture with my phone:

I am not sure what this is. It sort of looks like a sawfly, but sort of not.

Arachnid Appreciation:

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Bowl and doily spider in its web. I was mostly trying to take a picture of the web.

I think this is a courtship situation. The one above I think is a female, and the one below is a male hoping to mate with her.