because there are bugs everywhere!  They aren’t always the bugs I would like to look at, however.  In fact, most of them are pretty repulsive.  I only have to go a few feet from the back of our house and stand at the edge of a wildflower buffer zone.

Everything is pretty dry, but this is August, and it’s been blistering hot most of the summer so far.  I am always on the lookout for damselflies and dragonflies.  I think the damsels are pretty much gone from our little area right now.  The other day, I saw a white-faced meadowhawk dragonfly.  Then I saw a couple of big dragonflies from the skimmer family, a widow skimmer and a 12-spotted skimmer:

I also saw a tiny little butterfly (only about 1″ long), on a yellow flower.  What huge eyes!  It is a male fiery skipper butterfly.

I’m usually pretty amazed when I see the photos with all the detail.  I am even more amazed when I can find what kind of critter it is by searching Google Images, as well as other sites.

Of course, there was this insect flying so fast I couldn’t see what it was except that it was big and jet black.  I grabbed a blurry shot, and I think it was some kind of HUGE beetle around 4″ long, long antennae, and long legs trailing behind him, maybe some kind of stag beetle.  I don’t need to see him again *shudder*.  Giving new meaning to the term  “shutterbug” (shudder, bug!).

–Sue