Comparative Caterpillars

 I didn't bring my camera on my walk today, and I regretted it. When I got back, I didn't feel like taking my camera out in the backyard to look for bugs, but I did, and I was glad. I'm not sure what the moral is of this story.

Last week (I think) I posted a picture of a forest tent caterpillar, and I had to look it up before I captioned it because there is another species of caterpillar that looks similar and I can never remember which is which. But having done that, I knew which species I had found today (and looked it up anyway, just to be sure). Backyard Bug of the Day:

Eastern tent caterpillar. The main feature that helps me tell these apart is that the eastern tent caterpillar has that white stripe down its back, while the forest tent caterpillar has a line of white shapes down its back. Also, the forest tent caterpillar has a lot more blue. I wish I had seen both today, so I could post pictures to show the difference, but I have never seen both in the same day. I haven't seen either for years up until now.

I first spotted it climbing up a chair when I got home from running errands. I carried in all the fruits of my errands and came back out with my camera (this was not part of my bug walk). It was crawling around a lot, so I wasn't sure it would still be there, but it was.

And this is the moment it fell off the chair, which is why the first picture above shows it on the ground.

Other Bugs:

Sigh... this site is still uploading all my picture is reverse order...
 

I don't know what kind of caterpillar this is:

Fly

Pair of weevils

I think this is a sawfly, which, as you know if you have read this blog for the last few years, is actually a kind of stingless wasp:

Plant bug

I can take pictures of this scenario with the aphids in focus, or the ant, but not both:

The ant tends to the aphids, protecting them from predators, so that it can eat the sugary honeydew that the aphids secrete. There are a couple of adult aphids and their very tiny nymphs here.

Lace bug

Sometime I take pictures of bugs without intending to take pictures of bugs.

This is my favorite species of weevil. It would be co-bug of the day if it had been willing to sit still to have its picture taken.

Four-lined plant bug

Beetle

Sawfly larva that has just finished moulting. That is the skin it has just wriggled out of stuck to its back end.

Lots of uncooperative bugs today...

 

 The raspberries are in bloom, and the bees love them.

Ambush bug

I didn't notice that I had taken a picture of a bug here until I looked at it on my computer. I think it's a tiny weevil.

My husband spotted this on our walk, after I walked right by it without seeing it:

I don't know what kind of bird this is, or if it is really old enough to be out of the nest. I know that fledglings are not fully feathered, but this one may have too many fluffy baby feathers still. And according to what I read when I looked this up, the fact that it just sat there when we were so close to it is not a good sign. But hopefully the parents are still looking after it, protecting it and feeding it. However, they didn't try to shoo us away... Well, I am going to hope for the best. Nature is cruel, but I'd like to think that this baby bird is just fine.

Speaking of baby birds...

I took this picture of the baby robin last Wednesday, with my zoom lens. Its parents would not let me anywhere near the nest. In fact, the thing that tipped me off a couple of days ago to the fact that it had fledged is that when I went outside and sat on the back porch steps to put on my shoes, no robin flew to the oak tree near the porch to give me the stink-eye.

I haven't taken my camera on my walk for about a week, for various reasons, but last Wednesday after having a walk in the woods without it I did a bug walk in the backyard. I didn't find much, but...

Backyard Bug of the Day (From June 5, 2024):

Tumbling flower beetle. This is another species that gets to be BBotD whenever I get a half-way decent picture of it. This is about as good as it gets.

Other Bugs from June 5:

Flower longhorn beetle on multi-flora rose. One thing you can say for this invasive plant, the pollinators like it fine.

Beetle

Leaf hopper

There are two species of butterflies that I see about every day this year, little wood satyr, and this one, the pearl crescent. In past years neither has been something I see very often, so it's interesting that I am seeing so many now.

Arachnid Appreciation:

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This is a trash line spider. Why is it called a trash line spider?

Here's its web. Those are its prey that it has already eaten. The trash, lined up.