The Bugs in the Backyard: Caterpillar Hide and Seek

I led a group walk in my woods today, and because I was focused on that, instead of looking for bugs (although I did spot a fair few), I missed seeing a really cool caterpillar in the meadow in the woods. My husband, who was bringing up the rear of the group, spotted it and pointed it out to me. I should have take a picture with my phone, since I didn't have my camera with me, but after the tour, I later went back with my camera to try to find the caterpillar again and take pictures of it. It was a new species for me, and you know how excited I always get about those. With a caterpillar there's always a chance you might find it right where you last saw it–if they're eating a leaf, they may still be eating, or they may be resting, as caterpillars seem to spend a lot of time doing.

I'm sure you can guess where this story is going. I did not find the caterpillar. I looked all up and down the meadow path, on both sides, looking for that big, brown caterpillar. There's nothing much blooming in the meadow right now, so it's a sea of green, and the caterpillar did stand out a bit (but not enough to keep me from walking right by without seeing it the first time!), so I figured it would be easy to find, but it wasn't there anymore. Either it walked away into the mass of greenery in that meadow, or something ate it. Anyway, as I was looking for the caterpillar I found lots of other bugs, and almost my entire bug photography collection for today was taken in that meadow, probably not even 50 feet of path lined on both sides by walls of green. It was a pretty impressive collection of bugs for such a small space, and I didn't even get pictures of most of them. But here's what I got...

Backyard Co-Bug of the Day #1:

Dragonfly. This is a pretty unusual vantage point on a dragonfly for me.

Backyard Co-Bug of the Day #2:

Damselfly

There were lots and lots of dragonflies zooming over the meadow, multiple species.

So, what else did I find in the meadow?

Lots of Orthoptera.

Katydid nymph

Grasshopper nymph

Another species of katydid nymph.

In case you haven't figured it out, Orthoptera is the order composed of katydids, grasshoppers, and crickets. I didn't see any crickets. I only got pictures of these few Orthopterans, but they were hopping all over in the tall grasses.

Carrion beetle

I saw dozens of butterflies in the meadow, in spite of the lack of flowers there, and, in fact, I saw them throughout my walks today.

I got a picture of this red admiral in the meadow. That was the only one.

Thorn mimic planthopper (more on this later).

Leaf hopper. I don't think this is a candy striped leaf hopper, I think it is another species that is similar in markings but more subdued in color.

I continued my walk back to the house the long way 'round, and found a few more bugs:

Another dragonfly

Bee:

Assassin bug feeding on a plant bug

Robber fly

Just to show that sometimes caterpillars DO stay where they are for a while... We had to go out to run errands after my bug walk, and after I walked out the door I saw a caterpillar on a plant beside the front walk. I didn't want to go back in the house to get my camera while my husband was already in the car, so I figured, seeing the kind of caterpillar it was, that it would still be there when I got home. And it was:

It looks a lot like a swallowtail caterpillar of some kind, but I don't know which kind, and the knobs on its back end don't seem right for a swallowtail, unless this is such an early instar that it just doesn't look much like it is going to later.

By the way, at least one of the baby birds in the nest on the back porch has hatched:

I saw this in the morning, but for the rest of the day the parent bird (I don't know if it's one or both that takes egg duty in this species) was on the nest, I assume hoping the others will hatch.

Bugs from the last couple of days:

Or perhaps I should say nights, because on Wednesday it was horribly hot again, and I didn't go out for my walk until after dark. I didn't bring my camera, for obvious reasons, but since I found a cool bug when I was almost back to the house I went and got my camera, figuring, again, that the bug would stay put (and it did).

Backyard Bug of the Day (Night) from Wednesday, June 26:

Green lacewing. I saw several on my walk in the woods, all flying, which is a lovely thing to see by flashlight. But this tree had a few resting on its leaves. (All the pictures are the same one, though)