Weather

I didn't bother looking for bugs today. Partly because the temperature never got out of the 30s, and I knew that was too cold for bugs.

But mostly because we had this:

Yogi Berra wasn't talking about winter in New England when he said, "It aint over 'til it's over," but that's probably because no one really ever knows if it IS over.

Yes, the snow was all gone by early afternoon. But the cold remained. I hope all the bugs found somewhere cozy to ride it out.

What Season Is It Anyway?

The thing about springtime is that it lacks commitment. It is lovely when it makes up its mind to be springtime, but some days it doesn't want to make the effort, and you get a day like today, cold, miserable, and blech. Well, we needed the rain. But we didn't need the chill. Winter is OVER.

Fortunately for whatever eggs there might be in the mourning dove's nest, the mourning dove is there to keep them warm:

 And the bright side of the gloom is that it makes the green of the crab apple leaves look really vibrant.

 And even with the cold, spring progresses and more buds begin to open. This is a dogwood bud.

I really didn't think I would find any bugs at all today, but there were a few. Backyard Bug of the Day:

 I'm not saying fairies aren't real, but I do believe that probably many of the fairy sightings over time have been bugs.

 This bug's antennae were twirling madly, and I don't know if it was from the breeze, or if the bug was doing it. They were pretty amazing antennae, which you can kind of see here.

I am still not sure if the picture I posted the other day that I said might be a thrips was really a thrips, but I am pretty positive that this is:

 It's the black speck on the leaf.

There were two of them. (Today was one of those frustrating bug macrophotography days where I didn't get good pictures of anything because they wouldn't sit still).

 I thought I might see a lot of springtails today, because they don't mind the cold and they like the dampness after rain, but I only saw this one. Overall I have seen very few of them this year.

There was only one bumblebee in the rock garden.

 Playing peekaboo

A spider has left behind its trailing thread on the pussywillow. I didn't find the spider.

I did find other spiders, though, so let's have some Arachnid Appreciation:
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 In the movie The Gods Must Be Crazy II, a New York lawyer and a South African biologist are stranded in the Kalahari without food or water (though they do have a six pack of beer) due to a plane crash. Needing something to eat, they decide to steal an egg from an ostrich nest, which is being guarded by a male ostrich. Ostriches can be very dangerous, but the plan is that the lawyer will distract the ostrich and draw it away from the nest while the biologist steals an egg. The lawyer is nervous about this, and asks what she is supposed to do if the ostrich starts to chase her, and the biologist tells her that ostriches are very stupid and have poor eyesight, and all she has to do is lie down flat on the ground, and the ostrich won't be able to see her, and will go away.

So, the lawyer distracts the ostrich, it leaves the nest, the biologist steals the egg, and the ostrich happens to see him and begins to chase him. The lawyer screams at him to lie down flat, which he eventually does, and the ostrich steps on him, because it is stupid and has poor eyesight and doesn't see him, and then it goes back to its nest like none of this ever happened.

So why am I telling you this? Because this is what some species of spiders do when they feel threatened by a person with a camera (and presumably other things that might threaten them): they lie down flat. Now, in this scenario, we humans are the stupid ostrich with poor eyesight, according to the spider. This is pretty harsh, even though as animals go we don't have the best eyesight, or any of the senses, for that matter, but it's still better than a spider's eyesight. Anyway...

 ... Spider walking along...

 ... Spider realizes there's a human nearby and lies down flat. But I can still see you, spider.

Another fun spider hiding trick is to pull its legs up around its body to try to look invisible. I am not sure how this is supposed to work, but I think it's akin to when a toddler covers its eyes and says, "You can't see me!"

 This spider tried that trick, too.

 This one tried just moving away...

... but eventually it, too, tried to hide behind its legs.

Puns and Serendipity

It's April!

And April showers bring...

 Just checking if you were paying attention to yesterday's blog. If you were, you know what this is, and get my sorry pun.

A lot of things are sprouting and blooming in the backyard now, but aside from the daffodils, they are mostly little, subtle things.

 One of the reasons I am such a terrible gardener is because when things sprout in my flower beds I am never sure if they are something I planted there on purpose.

The squirrels are still able to find plenty of leftover fruits from last fall.

Today being April Fool's Day, I came upon a site that had asked several photographers to show their best accidentally good pictures. One of the photographers said that, "We wildlife photographers have so little control over our subjects that, to be honest, pretty much everything we do is a mistake." I guess what I do counts as wildlife photography - bugs are wild, and they are life - and while I get what he is saying, I wouldn't say that everything we do is a mistake. A lot of what I get is down to lucky timing, but the pictures aren't mistakes, I intend to take the shot. Whether or not the bug cooperates and lets me get the shot I want is not up to me, though. They have a lot more control than I do, and more choice in the matter. Add in the wind, and whatever weird variables, and I count myself lucky when I get the shot I want. However, there is a great deal of serendipity involved, even if you don't consider just finding the bugs serendipitous (which it is, for the most part, even though I am looking for them). Take this picture:

I was trying to take a picture of the vine, and that tiny bug just wandered in. Of course I then tried to take a good picture of the bug, but after photobombing my vine shot, it disappeared and wouldn't let me get a better bug shot.

If you are a control freak, insect macrophotography is not for you. Unless you use dead insects.

Anyway, speaking of the daffodils (we were earlier. Briefly)...

Backyard Bug of the Day:

 I don't know what it is, other than it is in the order Hemiptera.

When I walked over to this particular daffodil cluster, which has two flowers, there was a different cool bug on each flower, and I didn't know which to take a picture of first, because the chances of them both sticking around for me to get shots of both seemed rather slim. And yet, they did, because this was on the other flower:

 Hoverfly

 This fly was in one of those daffodils later.

There was a little bit of rain in the morning, so everything was damp, which is nice for springtails:

 This one...

 ... and this one were on the same rock.

 Moth blending in pretty well on tree bark.

 Speaking of serendipity... (we were, earlier)...

I have this little bug ornament in my rock garden, which I bought because I thought it was funny. Somehow it got knocked over, because I found it upside-down today - I don't know if it was the crazy wind, or if it was a squirrel or other animal. Anyway...

I never noticed before that there is a hole in the bottom. Apparently some wasps did notice, however, because there is a wasps' nest inside - which I would never have known about if the bug hadn't been knocked upside-down!

We had company over for dinner tonight, and because it was a nice evening, I left the porch light on after they left, to see if any bugs would be attracted to it.

They were:

 Standing in line? Bug really have no regard for personal space.

 Random Backyard Bug Related Thing That Is Not a Bug:

Insect eggs of some kind. They look kind of old, maybe from last year.


Arachnid Appreciation:
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And speaking of unexpected things...

 This jumping spider jumped on my hand...

... and this one...

 ... was just trying to grab me.

 It was not a jumping spider, though.

 This particular kind of spider (I really should find out what it is) lies down on the branch and tries to look like it's not there.

 Then it walks around a bit and finds a new spot (at least, this is how it behaves when I am trying to take a picture of it. I think it spends a lot more time in one place during its usual life, because it is an ambush predator, and catches its prey by staying still and looking like part of the tree). Anyway, you can see the thread it trails behind it as it walks. Even a spider that does not use a web to catch prey will do this, as a safety line in case it falls or has to jump off the branch to evade a photographer.

 More trailing thread.

 Even jumping spiders will use that trail line (no, it's not visible here. I'm just saying).