Backyard wildlife

It's Spring.

And the plants, trees and vines around my house have been teeming with all sorts of insects and perching birds.

So on a lazy afternoon...

The body of this spider is a striking orange with an unusual tapering abdomen.
This looked far more brilliant than I've managed to capture here...

... Almost looks like a cross between a spider and a mosquito.

Absolutely no idea what its name is.

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The common Indian Paper Wasp.
'Paper' as in the material the queen uses to build her nest... essentially, wood pulp.

I have no idea what the queen wasp here is.
All these must be female workers from her first batch of eggs.

You can see the eggs laid by her inside the wafer-thin cells.
Some have hatched, and the larvae have built a silk cocoon around themselves (the whitish layer on some cells) inside which they are undergoing metamorphosis.

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Ladybug without any spots?
I had never seen one before...
Turns out they are common in Asia.


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This one was very shy of my presence... Had to sneak in sideways...



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Stinkbug?

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Aphids... but they were too small and fast for my lens.

... This one was a giant! I assume she was a scout in search of those aphids.

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Some sort of iridescent fly...




(please read this like Attenborough)
... and where there is prey, there is always going to be a predator lurking around...


... A young male Praying Mantis...
He hides beneath a leaf, waiting for food to arrive.



The iridescent fly lands on the leaf and out he comes...



.. stealthily he approaches the fly... which is almost as big as himself...



... but the fly detects his movement. Probably from the vibrations on the leaf.
Sensing that the fly will escape, he lunges forward...

... but the fly just about escapes from being lunch. For now.

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