It's Time for Critters!

I ended up with a huge number of photos for Misty Dawn's Camera Critters.  The link is in my sidebar.  The link to her blog will be in one of the Camera Critters' links.  She wasn't first last week, like I said she normally is.  If you know what any of these insects are, and I either didn't say, or got them wrong, please let me know in a comment.  Thanks!

I am at my parents' house working on my post while they play with their great grandson.  It's been fun, and they have been in and out of the room I'm working in.   At one point, KJ opened the door to where I am, and said, "I found you!"  He's such a sweetie! 

The first photos are from Monday, July 5th.

The bees have been enjoying the liatrises.

The big black wasps are back, even though there is less Virginia mountain mint for them to flock to.  I'm not sure if the wasp to the right is a different sex from the black, or just another kind of wasp.

I noticed this locust from inside the kitchen, and took a few photos before going outside to get some.

I always start from a distance, using the zoom, then get closer and closer until the insect or other critter gets scared or tired of being where it is and goes away.  When this one zipped away, I was startled, too.

I was tickled to see 4 swallowtail of some kind caterpillars on the dill in my herb garden.  I used to take caterpillars off here and put them on the dill I am growing for them in the veggie garden, which I rarely see them on, but I decided to just let them hang out here if that's where they prefer.  Oh, and there's a fly hanging out, too.

I missed one of the caterpillar's photos, but each of these is a different one, and they are different sizes.

I went to check my rue to see if there were any caterpillars there.  This is a younger instar of a swallowtail.

I don't believe I've seen this kind of insect before.  Do you know what it is?  I can't remember what it was on, maybe a tomato or potato plant.

I checked the bronze fennel across the street, and found no caterpillars, but there was a ladybug.  There haven't been as many ladybugs here as last year.

The next photos are from Tuesday the 6th.  I heard a distressed sounding call, and saw it was from a locust being eaten by this robin.

I'm not the only one who heard that cry.   The other 2 birds were too late, though.

The bees are also enjoying the globe thistle.

There have been a number of the black wasps on the drumstick alliums.  I just checked back, and saw that the other photo of the wasp was on the same kind of plant, but I'm including both, because the first one showed 2 wasps, and because I like the following photo.

 I always like to see more than one insect sharing a bloom.  I know critters, like people, are not always peaceful with each other, but it always makes me feel good, as the mother of the garden, to see them co-exist well.  The rattlesnake master is a popular place for the insects to feed.
 

These are from Wednesday, the 7th.

I'm not sure if this is a wasp, or what on the milkweed.  I wonder if it's looking for a caterpillar to lay eggs in.

Here are a honey and bumble bee sharing a meal.

The next photos were taken later in the day, when I thought I was going out for a brief look at the flowers.  I ran back in for my camera when I saw what I think, was a black swallowtail butterfly on a double pom pom daylily.

It didn't want to pose for me, but I was able to get a couple photos of parts of it, anyway.

When I went across the street to take photos of the bed I have there, I found another photo of insects being near each other on the rudbeckias, I believe, 'Prairie Sun'.

While there, a squirrel was watching me from the walnut tree.

This wasp is kind of cool looking.  I have gotten close to them, and at times, they have flown toward me to get me out of their space, but I've never felt afraid of being stung.  I'm not sure if that's a bee of some kind, or what next to it on the allium.

Even later in the day, I went out and saw my third or fourth monarch of the season.  I'm assuming there have been more, but I have not been out often when it's sunniest, which is when they like to be out and about.  This is the prettiest time for the liatris.  I sure am enjoying the different kinds I have.

The monarch seemed to enjoy them, too, flitting around from stem to stem.

I think this is a lightning bug with the fly on the rattlesnake master.

Last, but not least, I'm still seeing some katydids on the daylilies.  Last week, I said that I need to do a search to see if katydids will harm the plants.  I was concerned because I've been seeing more of them this year.  Well, silly me!  My search led me to the Cottage Garden Forum, where, in the last posting in the thread, I said I'd found a book that said they rarely cause noticeable injuries.  (You can see where this one has been eating, on the lower petal.  The blooms only last a day, so I'm glad those are the kind of flowers they like.)

Wow, the photos were slower loading than at home.  As they were loading, I spent time cleaning out my mailbox, as I received an email recently telling me my box was 70% or something like that full, and I should be deleting messages or buying more room for them.

I had to finish the post at home, because KJ was ready for a nap.  He fell asleep in the car, and after getting a warning ticket for not putting my tags on my license plate, we got home, and he is still sleeping.  Next week, expect some shorter posts!  I've made some good progress, but have a ways to go in getting rid of the clutter in my "parlor", which is what Larry calls it.  He has space in the basement he made a "man cave" sign for, before we started hearing that term used a lot.

Enjoy the rest of the weekend and check out some other Camera Critter posts.