Around My Yard

Here is a sampling of critters (and flowers) I found in my own yard and garden today:

Blue Dasher

 bee on Catherine Woodbury daylily

 spider on coneflower

 Needs no introduction

 hosta blooms

 Banded Hairstreak butterfly

 grasshopper

 I'm not sure what this bug is, but it seems to have killed a bee and was flying around with it.  If you know what it is, please tell me in a comment!

 Yellow-legged Meadowhawk (female)

Chipping Sparrow

Common Whitetail

It's peak bloom time in the daylily bed out by the mailbox.  This is a self-sufficient garden, requiring no care and no watering (although my husband and son did cut some overhanging tree branches away so they'd get more sun).  I think they look prettier in close-up photos than in photos like this one....