the beetle yard

ah spring. with the warmer weather came yardwork. lots of it. longer daylight hours cued the plants to start growing full steam...daffodils came up unexpectedly, and the azalea bushes launched into full pink blooming.
while raking out the red dyed mulch (yuck) all around our house, we started to uncover some cool stuff.
first was a large pupae...

i assume from a sphynx moth or something simliar. unfortunately, he'd gotten a bit of a prick from the rake and was oozing a tiny bit of fluid. i put him back in the yard in the hopes that he'd finish his transformation.

we also dug up a large bombadier beetle. shiny, almost violet iridiscent, with small red spots all over his wings.
he was lovely, but BOY HOWDY he stunk! i mistakenly handled him barehanded trying to get a clearer photo, my hands stunk for a whole day afterward.

giant click beetles started appearing randomly...middle of the day even. i walked out and found this guy on a log, just sitting and enjoying the sun. the logs from the tree hadn't been cut up, and were arranged on one small side of our backyard, providing a nice habitat for lots of wood borers.

birds continued to fledge, and i had to really scout the yard before i let the dogs out to play. this little robin was beside our shed hopping around...i walked him into the alley under the watchful eye of his parents so he wouldn't become a boston terrier snack.