Hildegard doing the splits...

After several chilly days, it warmed up today and - as if out of nowhere - the late season flyers/crawlers showed up, including lots of these Asian multicolored lady beetles!  Some years in the fall, they are as thick as fleas on a dog, getting into every nook and cranny around the house.  Fun for photographs but a hassle when you have to be hoovering up ladybug corpses all winter long.

But I digress.  I chose today's shot for the simple reason that it's the best shot I've ever gotten of a lady beetle about to take flight.  I am sure I'll get better ones in the future, but for now, it's my top shot.  Won't tell you how many I had to take to get this, but suffice it to say I am happy to be in the digital era.  

I also saw my first juncos in the yard today - they are regular winter residents here so you'll be seeing some in my journal in the months ahead.  They are pretty little birds and very photogenic, especially in the snow.  

Other yard sightings...several bumble bees and yellow jacket wasps, two different species of hoverfly, a house fly and some other small fly.  Also saw a couple of cabbage white butterflies drift by and several Autumn Meadowhawk dragons.  Tomorrow the temps will be up to 70 so expect to see more creepy crawlies.  

Be sure to check out this week's Tiny Tuesday entries and thanks to NewcastleDownunder for hosting (and cute spider alert on this link!)

Happy Tuesday...
Debbi