The Bugs in the Backyard: Remembering Joy

Today was a reminder of the joy I've felt in years past while doing my bug walks. It was a reminder because my new camera arrived today, and it's really nice, and it was exciting to go out and find bugs and take pictures of them. But it was also a reminder because I saw a bug today that I have only ever seen once before, during the first summer I started posting Backyard Bug of the Day online. It was a really spectacular bug, and when I first saw it I was only just starting to realize how interesting and beautiful bugs are. This bug was something of a revelation to me–I had no idea how many cool and fascinating things were flying around my backyard. And today I saw that same species of insect, and it was even cooler this time because of the circumstances I found it in.

Backyard Co-Bug of the Day #1:

This is a giant leopard moth. When I found it I think it had recently eclosed, meaning it had emerged from its cocoon. I don't think it's wings were fully ready yet. It was clinging to the underside of a big rock in the wall on the boundary of our property. I was just kind of standing there, having a video call with my husband on my phone when I turned around and saw what I thought at first was a butterfly under the rock, but then I recognized it as a giant leopard moth. I told my husband I had to go, because I had just seen a cool bug. He gets me.

I wish I could have taken a picture of the back of the body, under the wings, because it's spectacular, but I think you get a hint of how colorful and amazing it is.

I love the legs, too.

I went back outside about an hour later to see if the wings were folded up yet, and they were.

Then later I went out again to see if it had emerged from under the rock, hoping it would be somewhere I could more easily photograph it, but it was gone. I did find its cocoon under the rock, though.

I was pretty excited about this find, and that would have been enough of an inauguration for my new camera, but only a few minutes later I found another cool bug. Not as cool, but I learned something in the encounter, and learning new things is another thing that I love about my insect photography hobby, although it wasn't technically something I learned from taking a picture.

Backyard Co-Bug of the Day #2:

Swamp milkweed leaf beetle. On common milkweed, not swamp milkweed.

Today I learned that swamp milkweed leaf beetles are among those insects that use smell as a defense mechanism. I found this out because I accidentally made it fall off the plant, and picked it up off the ground to put it back. It did not like me picking it up, and defended itself. It wasn't that bad a smell, and that's still better than being stung or bitten, so...

It's quite a lovely beetle.

Now, let's go back to yesterday... I didn't bring my camera on my walk yesterday because it seemed like it might rain, and having broken my camera the day before it is no longer weather resistant, even with the piece of duct tape I put on it. I really wished I had my camera, because I saw a lot of cool bugs, but there was only one thing I photographed with my phone.

Remember the weirdness in the small pond the day before yesterday, all those tiny bugs on the surface? Well, yesterday I went to have another look at them. There were swarms of tiny insects over the pond, which I thought were mosquitoes–which would make sense, with all the mosquito larvae in the water. But they were not mosquitoes...

I still don't know what these things are, but it appears that whatever those things were that I saw on Tuesday, on Wednesday they had developed wings and were flying away. When I got close with my phone a mass of them took wing. It's hard to really see what's going on here...

Here you can see some with wings, and in the upper right of the picture you can still see some of them the way they were the day before.

I really wish I'd had my good camera with me...

I went back today to look, and didn't see any of this, either with wings or the way they were on Wednesday. We did have about an inch of rain last night, but I think they all just emerged into their adult phases and flew away.

So. Back to today...

Other Bugs:

Some kind of plant bug nymph

Firefly

Planthopper

Beetle

Sawfly larva

Small wood satyr butterfly. I think this was an attempt at wooing–there was another butterfly just behind this leaf. They did not hit it off.

Leaf hopper

Beetle on multiflora rose

Beetle on maple leaf viburnum

Wasp. That is not a formidable stinger, that is an ovipositor.

Sawfly larvae

Pearl crescent butterfly

This looks like a bee, but I am pretty sure it's a fly:

The eyes, the antennae, and the... I don't know what it's called, but the back of the thorax all look more like a fly than a bee.

I think it might have been laying eggs in a hole in this tree.

Flower longhorn beetle on maple leaf viburnum.

There was a lot going on on this false hellebore plant:

Stoneflies...

These two were living dangerously on the edge of a spider web.

Caddisflies...

Mating pair...

Singlular one of a different species

Hoverflies

Tortoise beetle. This is on one of the tomato plants in our vegetable garden, and I probably should have removed it, but I like tortoise beetles. If they start damaging the plants (I only saw one) we will relocate them.