Porchlight Attractions

 I used to find a lot of cool bugs on my porch at night when I went out for the evening and left the porch light on. I would come home to find huge numbers of moths, or bugs that I never saw during the day, strange and wonderful bugs. That technique for finding bugs fell by the wayside during the pandemic–I didn't go out for the evening, so I wasn't coming home to a porch full of interesting insects. I went out tonight, though, and came home after dark to find something really cool on my porch, an insect that I don't think I have ever seen during the day. There are people who do this kind of thing seriously, setting out a white sheet (or what is called a moth sheet, but is not a bed sheet) and shining a light on it to attract moths and other insects. I have tried this before, with little success. But the porch light has attracted some wonders.

Backyard Bug of the Day:

Summer fishfly. I thought it was a female, because I thought that males had more elaborately feathery antennae, but now I am not sure.

I only did a brief bug walk today, but I do have a few Other Bugs:

I've just decided this is Backyard Co-Bug of the Day #2, just because it cooperated with me so I could take its picture, after trying and failing with this species for the last week. I think it is some kind of borer beetle.

I think this is an eight-spotted forester moth caterpillar, dining on the tendril of a grape vine.

Ambush bug

Some kind of plant bug, I think.

A romantic liaison in the making on the front porch under the lights. The one above is the female, larger and with plain antennae. The lower beetle is the male, smaller with elaborate antennae.

Arachnid Appreciation:

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

A spider on the front porch that has caught a cockroach.

 This is a new spider species for me:

Also seen on the front porch.