7.3.26 McKinley Park, Chicago, IL

Squash Vine Borer and a Goldenrod Soldier Beetle

The name "Squash Vine Borer" does not justify this moth. Maybe go with Red Fancypants Clearwing? Of course, "Fancypants" would be "Trouserton" in British english.

So cool!!!

When my mom spotted this awesome bug and said "Ari look at this whattheheckisthat" or something like that, I said "Oh yeah that's a waspbeewaspbeewaspbeewaspbee-what the heck IT"S A MOTH!!!!"
Point is, it doesn't really look like any familiar bug and it looks too flashy to be on this planet. Wowza

It looks a lot like the Blue-winged Wasp (Scolia dubia), which I see a lot (though I haven't seen any this year). I wonder why the Blue-winged Wasp Scolia dubious

A Black-and-gold Bumble Bee, Illinois' new state bee (whoo hooo!), looking like a fly baby centaur in this pose

Despite being a whopping 1+ in long, the Black-and-gold Bumble Bee is a fairly common bee. You would think such a massive bug would only bee found in super high-quality Tallgrass Prairie, this behemoth hangs out anywhere with a nice amount of Wild Bergamot (within its range, of course).

CUUUUTE

2 Stream Bluets

Eastern Amberwings that are about to mate. Currently, the female is just riding the male.

Nosedive!

An impossibly cute Bold Jumper

Eastern Carpenter Bee

Two-spotted Bumble Bee

Another two-spot

Brown-belted Bumble Bee drone. The drone is the male, which bee queens produce precious few of. They then leave the nest and wander in search of a young queen to mate with. Then he'll just die off to the side

Common Eastern Bumbler

A very cute Red-eared Slider on the lawn. She supposedly just laid eggs and was heading back to the water. My dad moved her where she was going (back to the water). Here's a good comic for turtle moving info. Note: watch out for the pee. There's so much pee.