Six participants completed this week's survey under hot and mostly sunny conditions. Bird feathers are often colored by pigments such as carotenoids and melanins that produce yellows, reds and browns. Blue, however, is a structural color, created when light is scattered by microscopic air pockets in the barbs. If the scrub-jay feather shown below were backlit, it would appear brown instead of blue. Select Photos and Complete List of Sightings: Auplopus mellipes (spider wasp with bold jumper) photo by Val Bugh Auplopus mellipes (spider wasp carrying its prey) photo by Val Bugh Auplopus mellipes (spider wasp nest cells) photo by Val Bugh Unknown sp. (spider wasp) photo by Pat Dittmar Unknown sp. (velvet ant male) photo by Val Bugh Boopedon gracile (graceful range grasshopper nymph) photo by Val Bugh Mermiria bivittata (two-striped mermiria eating grass) photo by Val Bugh Argiope aurantia (black and yellow garden spider male & female) photo by Dan Zinn Griburius sp. (leaf beetle) photo by Val Bugh Banasa euchlora (stink bug) photo by Barbara Ribble Diolcus chrysorrhoeus (shield bug) photo by Val Bugh Metcalfa pruinosa (citrus planthopper) photo by Val Bugh Durrantia piperatella (moth) photo by Val Bugh Isophrictis similiella (moth) photo by Val Bugh Polyhymno acaciella (moth) photo by Val Bugh Melanocinclis lineigera (moth) photo by Val Bugh Monopis crocicapitella (bird nest moth) photo by Val Bugh Unknown sp. (pyralid moth larva) photo by Val Bugh Cnemidophorus gularis gularis (Texas spotted whiptail) photo by Harriett Wolf Aphelocoma woodhouseii (Woodhouse's scrub-jay feather) photo by Val Bugh Birds: American Crow (Corvus brachyrhynchos) Black-chinned Hummingbird (Archilochus alexandri) Black-crested Titmouse (Baeolophus atricristatus) Carolina Chickadee (Poecile carolinensis) Carolina Wren (Thryothorus ludovicianus) Chimney Swift (Chaetura pelagica) Cliff Swallow (Petrochelidon pyrrhonota) Eastern Phoebe (Sayornis phoebe) Greater Roadrunner (Geococcyx californianus) Great-tailed Grackle (Quiscalus mexicanus) Lesser Goldfinch (Spinus psaltria) Mourning Dove (Zenaida macroura) Northern Bobwhite (Colinus virginianus) Northern Cardinal (Cardinalis cardinalis) Northern Mockingbird (Mimus polyglottos) Painted Bunting (Passerina ciris) Turkey Vulture (Cathartes aura) White-eyed Vireo (Vireo griseus) White-winged Dove (Zenaida asiatica) Woodhouse's Scrub-jay (Aphelocoma woodhouseii) Mammals: Hispid Cotton Rat (Sigmodon hispidus) Eastern Cottontail (Sylvilagus floridanus) Reptiles & Fish: Redstripe Ribbon Snake (Thamnophis proximus rubrilineatus) Texas Spiny Lizard (Sceloporus olivaceus) Texas Spotted Whiptail (Cnemidophorus gularis gularis) Rio Grande Cichlid (Herichthys cyanoguttatus) Insects & Spiders: order family genus/species common name lepidoptera   nymphalidae   Danaus gilippus   Queen       Agraulis vanillae   Gulf Fritillary       Phyciodes texana   Texan Crescent    pieridae   Phoebis sennae   Cloudless Sulphur    papilionidae   Battus philenor   Pipevine Swallowtail    lycaenidae   Calycopis isobeon   Dusky-blue Groundstreak    hesperiidae   Erynnis horatius   Horace's Duskywing       Chioides albofasciatus   White-striped Longtail (adult & larva)       Systasea pulverulenta   Texas Powdered-skipper       Pyrgus communis/albescens   Common/White Checkered-skipper       Lerema accius   Clouded Skipper       Nastra julia   Julia's Skipper    arctiidae   Hypoprepia miniata   Scarlet-winged Lichen Moth    erebidae   Melipotis cellaris   Moth    geometridae   Pimaphera percata   Moth    pyralidae   Unknown sp.   Moth (larva)    tortricidae   Sparganothoides lentiginosana   Lentiginos Moth    tineidae   Monopis crocicapitella   Bird Nest Moth    peleopodidae   Durrantia piperatella   Moth    gelechiidae   Isophrictis similiella   Moth       Polyhymno acaciella   Moth    cosmopterigidae   Melanocinclis lineigera   Moth coleoptera   coccinellidae   Harmonia axyridis   Multi-colored Asian Lady Beetle       Coccinella septempunctata   Seven-spotted Lady Beetle    chrysomelidae   Griburius sp.   Leaf Beetle    tenebrionidae   Eleodes goryi   Darkling Beetle hemiptera   coreidae   Hypselonotus punctiventris   Coreid Bug       Leptoglossus zonatus   Leaf-footed Bug       Leptoglossus phyllopus   Eastern Leaf-footed Bug       Chelinidea vittiger   Opuntia Bug (adult & nymph)    alydidae   Hyalymenus tarsatus   Texas Bow-legged Bug (adult & nymph)    largidae   Largus sp.   Largus Bug    scutelleridae   Diolcus chrysorrhoeus   Shield Bug    pentatomidae   Banasa euchlora   Stink Bug homoptera   cicadellidae   Homalodisca vitripennis   Glassy-winged Sharpshooter       Penthimia americana   Leafhopper    cercopidae   Lepyronia quadrangularis   Spittlebug    flatidae   Metcalfa pruinosa   Citrus Planthopper    cicadidae   Tibicen texanus   Cicada hymenoptera   apidae   Apis mellifera   Honey Bee       Bombus pensylvanicus   American Bumble Bee       Xylocopa parkinsoniae   Large Carpenter Bee    halictidae   Augochloropsis metallica   Green Sweat Bee       Lasioglossum sp.   Sweat Bee    vespidae   Polistes exclamans   Paper Wasp       Polistes rubiginosus   Red Wasp       Polistes bellicosus   Paper Wasp       Polistes metricus   Paper Wasp       Brachygastra mellifica   Mexican Honey Wasp       Vespula squamosa   Southern Yellowjacket    crabronidae   Tachytes sp.   Digger Wasp    sphecidae   Sphex ichneumoneus   Great Golden Digger Wasp       Sceliphron caementarium   Yellow-and-black Mud Dauber       Isodontia sp.   Grass-carrying Wasp    pompilidae   Unknown sp.   Spider Wasp       Entypus sp.   Spider Wasp       Auplopus mellipes   Spider Wasp (adult & nest)    mutillidae   Unknown sp.   Velvet Ant diptera   agromyzidae   Unknown sp.   Leaf-miner Fly    tachinidae   Unknown sp.   Tachinid Fly    asilidae   Promachus hinei   Robber Fly    dolichopodidae   Condylostylus sp.   Long-legged Fly    culicidae   Aedes albopictus   Asian Tiger Mosquito odonata   libellulidae   Libellula croceipennis   Neon Skimmer       Pachydiplax longipennis   Blue Dasher       Erythemis simplicicollis   Eastern Pondhawk    lestidae   Archilestes grandis   Great Spreadwing    coenagrionidae   Argia immunda   Kiowa Dancer       Ischnura posita   Fragile Forktail orthoptera   acrididae   Melanoplus ponderosus   Ponderous Grasshopper       Melanoplus differentialis   Differential Grasshopper       Chortophaga viridifasciata   Northern Green-striped Grasshopper       Lactista aztecus   Aztec Bandwing       Schistocerca obscura   Obscure Bird Grasshopper       Schistocerca nitens   Gray Bird Grasshopper (nymph)       Mermiria bivittata   Two-striped Mermiria       Syrbula admirabilis   Handsome Grasshopper (nymph)       Amblytropidia mysteca   Brown Winter Grasshopper (nymph)       Boopedon gracile   Graceful Range Grasshopper    tettigoniidae   Scudderia furcata   Fork-tailed Bush Katydid (nymph)       Microcentrum rhombifolium   Greater Anglewing (nymph)       Conocephalus strictus   Straight-lanced Meadow Katydid mantodea   mantidae   Stagmomantis carolina   Carolina Mantis (nymph) dermaptera   anisolabididae   Euborellia annulipes   Ring-legged Earwig neuroptera   chrysopidae   Chrysoperla sp.   Green Lacewing    mantispidae   Dicromantispa sayi   Mantisfly araneae   araneidae   Argiope aurantia   Black and Yellow Garden Spider    salticidae   Phidippus audax   Bold Jumper       Anasaitis canosa   Jumping Spider       Colonus puerperus   Jumping Spider    oxyopidae   Peucetia viridans   Green Lynx    theridiidae   Argyrodes elevatus   Silver Dewdrop Spider