Time for catching up

A cosmos and a pollinator in our back yard annual garden, taken about noon on the 11th.  More images to come; this has been a busy month.  The sedum in the front yard has had all kinds of pollinators, and it's also the season for coreopsis and asters, which you'll see in good time.

Spotted earlier today

At the hospital this afternoon for my wife's follow-up visit with a specialist.  We got there early enough that there was time to roam around the floor.  

I found that we were in the right place to use the glass-enclosed bridge over the road.  The bridge connects to another building on the hospital grounds, and contains several small tables that go along with a mini snack bar.

The view was good from the bridge, and at one point a spotted lanternfly landed on the outside of the glass.  I decided to take the picture because I remember how we were informed they were invasive and had no predators.  We were called upon to smash every one of the insects, which I resisted.  

This one being on the outside meant it was safe from humans, if not necessarily from predators, since as it turns out there are some.  Nature!  There's just no stopping it.

At last

In spring this year, I scattered seeds from a packet labeled Wildflowers that I'd bought at Walmart.  The cornflowers were numerous, and other styles and colors showed up as weeks went on, but not until today did this orange flower make an appearance.  If Google's AI is to be believed, it's Calendula, or the pot marigold.  Two tiny insects found it just the thing.

Getting off the ball

From a video seen on Xitter.  Rory McIlroy helps remove an insect from his golf ball during last week's PGA Tour playoff.  That's two in two weeks.  

On the ball

In 2022, the sports photo of the year award went to this image of Naomi Osaka as she moved a butterfly to safety.  

This past Sunday, another butterfly achieved 15 seconds of fame during the St Jude golf tournament in Memphis.  Sam Burns's birdie putt rolled by the hole and, just as the ball stopped, a rider hopped on.  CBS didn't replay it, so I recorded it off the screen the old-fashioned way.  

Field report

 From my walking app:  "1.22 mi walk / Thursday, August 6 at 9:51 a.m.

"Getting out in the morning instead of evening due to coming heat and humidity.  Three rabbits, two goldfinches, several barn swallows, and a few chicory flowers along the road in the nearby park. Possibly a killdeer cry from a stony area in the park.

"A house along the way has a for-sale sign in its front yard.  The yard also has little yellow flowers all over it.  I'm a fan of wildflowers, so I like the way it looks.  It's unique in the development.  I do wonder, considering the elevated price tag, how a potential buyer might view a house with a front yard full of what they consider to be weeds.  Considered taking a picture, but decided that standing in front of someone's house taking pictures might be seen as suspicious, even if it is for sale.

"A couple of houses down, a butterfly bush more than a foot tall has sprouted from a crack along the curb.  Pretty purple flowers, though."

Putting my time to good use

My wife and I were about to leave the house for a ride this afternoon.  I went outside into warm sunshine, and while I waited for her I looked at the bush just outside the garage door.  This insect flew into the picture and landed on a leaf, and I snapped four or five quick shots before it left.  

 

A purpose and a place

Our front yard has been weed-and-feed-ed, and I recently paid to have several square feet of mulch added to the south side of the house.  The prior layer of mulch had broken down and was apparently an ideal potting mix for a number of weeds, which made it look shabby as seen from the front sidewalk.  Curb appeal, I get that.  Can't be lowering the property values in this neighborhood.  

The back yard, which isn't so visible, has had a crop of dandelions, and the formerly landscaped "island" near the back edge of the property is now largely covered with wood violets, since they are a natural low ground cover that needs no maintenance or mowing.  

Not to say it's all wild and unkempt; I keep the plentiful catnip from growing tall, and ruthlessly uproot the spiny thistles when they pop up.  From a distance it just looks green and intentional.

There are exceptions, though. Landscaping in the front yard was airtight (or "weedtight"?) for the first couple of years, but in the past two that has given way to patches of speedwell (left, above) and yellow wood sorrel.  I couldn't get a picture today of the latter with pollinators, but there were hoverflies helping themselves to the former.  They're colorful, they're pretty, and they're attractive to pollinators, so they're staying put.

Life in our back yard

 

Another kind of bee (Life in our back yard)

Anthidium manicatum, or European wool carder bee, on a sedum leaf.  As usual with things I see these days, this insect is considered an invasive species that is out-competing native bees.  

Out in the back yard

"The image displays Velvetleaf (Abutilon theophrasti), also known by common names like Indian Mallow, Butterprint, or Buttonweed."  But also:  "Since being introduced to North America in the 18th century, velvetleaf has become an invasive species in agricultural regions of the eastern and midwestern United States."

Also on the unlandscaped part of our yard, there were a pair of cabbage whites and a brown skipper on pink sedum.

Late night visitor

On the wall of my bathroom, a drain fly, also commonly known as a moth fly.  Not a good sign.

Something's leaking somewhere in the plumbing and giving these something to live on. Oh boy.

 

Life in our back yard, plus something unrelated

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And now for something completely different:

Exactly like the Woody Allen joke:  the food is lousy, and such small portions.  

It used to be landscaped

Now it's loaded with volunteer greenery and insects that accompany it.  I like this way better.

Honeybee on oregano flower, 26 July 2025

Another first

This morning in our back yard.  Looks like a kind of ladybug, but the back isn't smooth like wings.

So let's look around and try to learn something.  

Larva (left), adult (center), and pupa (right)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harmonia_axyridis

"Harmonia axyridis is a large lady beetle or ladybug species that is most commonly known as the harlequin, Asian, or multicoloured Asian lady beetle."

Tiny and Tinier

 

Yellow wood sorrel flowers are no bigger than a dime, and the mite is larger than a grain of sand, but not that much larger.

 

At the end of the day

   

The worm/caterpillar on the left was dangling at eye level over the sidewalk from an oak tree on the next door neighbor's property.  Between its size and its constant motion, I knew it would take a miracle to get a good focused image, and after four blurry tries, I settled for the one you see above.  What it is doesn't feel as useful to remember as just recording that it was there, and that I almost walked into it.

And now, what you've no doubt been waiting for:  Google Lens guessed that the thing in the photo above right is possibly an x-ray of a tibia, or else an image of paint peeling from a Ford F-150.  Guess I'll have to try something else.

Later:  Blue-tailed damselfly?  OK, I can accept that.

Ancora Imparo:  (1) learned that the WIN/Shift/S combination that does screen grabs also records videos, the way Dropbox used to do.  Used it to save a clip from a post on Xitter that showed a dog jumping ropes being twirled by a human and two other dogs.  (2) learned that FastStone accesses the latitude and longitude recorded on pictures taken with my Samsung Galaxy, and it can place them on a screen in Google Maps (Windows 11).  The grab below shows where I saw the insect on the right above.

Lots of unnecessary eating today, so I needed a walk late this afternoon.  The timeline on Google Maps (Android) isn't as detailed as it used to be, so when it told me just now that I'd only walked half a mile, I had my doubts.  (There should be an app for that.  A free one would be best for my budget.)

EDIT:  Did some searching and eventually settled on MapMyWalk.  Yesterday's walks totaled a bit over a mile and a half.  

Seen while strolling

 

Hoverfly (Toxomerus marginatus) on chicory 

Symphyotrichum lanceolatum (panicled aster)

Lots of possibilities; but I can tell it wants to be free of the plastic tree guard.  I've seen deer nearby, though, so it's taking a big chance sticking its neck out like that.

Soybean crop, ready for harvest

Strolling in the park one day

Atalopedes campestris, (called sachem in the United States and Canada) is a small grass skipper butterfly.