Rainbow Colours

Backyard Bugging:


First, in the daylight.

My hostas are blooming. They don't make much of a show; only one flower opens at a time, on each of a few stalks, while yesterday's droop and tomorrow's are still in bud. I grow them mainly for the leaves. Still, that one small flower is worth photographing.


Zooming in, I discovered that it is playing hostess to a party of ants.

I wonder: they don't seem to be going anywhere near the pollen. Do they have any role to play in the fertilization process? Or are they just opportunistic feeders?

On the wall, I discover another visitor; a tiny yellow fly, about the size of a fruit fly. From the rear, his abdomen looks like a miniature lemon.

And at night:

I was out checking on the American house spiders, and discovered this beastie on my patio doors. The photos were taken with a desk lamp (so the camera could find something to focus on) and the flash, looking from outside in.

First, just the plain bug. I'm not sure what it is yet; a green and red bug, with wings, about 1/4 inch long. Strong, defined markings, big black eyes, outlining on the head. Some kind of "toothed" edge to the body or wings at the bottom, barely visible in this photo, more evident in the next, if you click on it to get the full size.

Here he is, with his reflection in 2 double-glassed panels. Too bright in the flesh, progressively paler with each reflection. (And it looks like I need to be washing those windows again!)


And sometimes there's an advantage to the "El Cheapo" brand of digital camera; look what it did with a bit of conflicting light in the distance! Again, click on this to get the full effect.

I still don't know what this is, but for now, I'm calling it my "fire bug".

*Update: It is a rhododendron leafhopper, Graphocephala fennahi, the only graphocephala in the west. Thanks to Lynne, of Hasty Brook.