I'm not very sure of this ID; I took a dozen pictures, all of them awful, of this moth that I found in my bedroom late in the evening. Best guess is Tessellate Dart (Euxoa tessellata), based on the lines being doubled; Somerville MA, 9/2/2014.
Incidentally, since finding the other moth that I id'd (possibly incorrectly) as Master's Dart, I've removed one of those from the house almost every day.
I had never gotten quite through the batch of pictures taken earlier in the summer. This one seems to be a Calico Pyralid (Aglossa costiferalis), taken on the wall of the Pine Haven bathroom in July. It's quite small, total length 9mm or so. 7/20/2014, Wentworth NH.
I puzzled over this identification for a long time, then finally posted a picture to bugguide.net, where the helpful people identified it for me within the hour. It is the imported Gypsy Moth (Lymantria dispar). Wentworth NH, 8/3/2014.
Once again showing that the white moths are not actually hard to identify, if only I try, here's an Elm Spanworm Moth (Ennomos subsignaria). Wentworth NH, 8/3/2014.
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One of the bugs that got our attention at the Fells yesterday was this Eastern Red-bellied Tiger Beetle (Cicindela rufiventris). They were actually quite common - I saw another further along after we were done taking pictures of this one. It moved like a fly, very light on its feet, and no obvious pause before taking flight.
I'm working on ID'ing more of the moths in my photo collection; I shall resume daily moths soon. This is a spider I've been watching on our porch; it's some Agelenid, I can't get closer than that with the tools I have. Somerville MA, 8/27/2014.
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Monty and I took both kids, and both of our cameras to hike in the Middlesex Fells this morning. We hiked the Easternmost loop of Rock Circuit trail and these are taken on one of the lower outcroppings to the South of the bluffs. His large (manual focus only) vintage telephoto lens rather eclipsed the abilities of my new macro lens, especially when faced with a fairly skittish pair of butterflies, which were busy copulating (first photo is mine, the others are his). They flew from their perch twice when we got too close. As far as I can tell the female is the considerably larger one, and she had enough lift to take off quickly carrying her mate - Black Swallowtail (Papilio polyxenes) 8/30/2014.
The kids did surprisingly well, though were visibly hot and tired on the last half mile back to the car.
This is the last of the moths I have readily to hand (solid identification, acceptable picture) from the 8/2 Pine Haven trip. I think there's some from the previous trip I should still go through, though. Eastern Panthea (Panthea furcilla), Wentworth NH, 8/2/2014.
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This spider is not small, but really fabulously well camouflaged. I don't have an identification yet. Cambridge MA (Amesbury Street), 8/25/2014.
I was actually on an urgent errand when I spotted it; five photos later, I got a phone call suggesting that the problem had spontaneously resolved itself.
The interest in moths was in large part launched by acquiring an excellent field guide (the Beadle & Leckie Peterson Guide); I do not have an equivalent for spiders, though I have just ordered one. Suggestions welcome, either on the ID, or on a guide I might like.
Master's Dart (Feltia herilis), Somerville MA, 8/23/2014.
We've actually seen several of these, and I have photos of another that I caught in the kitchen on 8/11, and I saw one on the porch on 8/22. I've still got a backlog of moth photos taken previously, but this one was taken with the new camera (on the palm of Monty's hand).
