Dew

You would think that after being surprised a certain number of times a person would become unsurprisable (I don't think that's a word), because you start to expect surprises, and then they're not surprises anymore. Well, I am still being surprised by my backyard.

Aside from the obvious, that every day I am surprised that there are still bugs out there - because every day deeper into winter (and let's face it - winter doesn't really start on December 20-something, or even on December 1, as in meteorological winter), it is more surprising to find something alive outside from the category of arthropods (I can never remember - kingdom? Phylum? I think it's phylum). No, it is the specific things that I find on any given day that surprise me.

Like this:

 I think I am going to award this cricket with Backyard Bug of the Day status right now. Only because it is purple and green, and I have never seen that before. That is probably just the effect of the dew on it, but I don't care, this little beauty is now Backyard Bug of the Day.

Slightly closer shot, because I couldn't decide which was better. Now, I stopped hearing crickets in the yard about a week ago, and I figured that that was it for them, that they had died. But I just read somewhere (on the internet, so I don't really trust the information) that they don't necessarily die in the winter, they go into a stage called diapause. There are different kinds of diapause (going into a cocoon to pupate is one, I think), and this particular kind is basically the insect's metabolism slows down to an extreme when it's in duress, which means it doesn't need food, which means it just stays there in a dormant state until things get better. And getting better in this case would be getting warm in the spring. So, how did I find this cricket, you are wondering? Well, there's a piece of wood on the ground near the house, from a project we have not finished cleaning up after, and I happened to nudge it aside with my foot today during my bug walk. I saw a lot of scurrying, and then this cricket, sitting in a little hole under the board, covered in moisture. It didn't move, so I suppose it could be dead, but I choose to believe it's in diapause.

Having said that, though, today was not a cold day. My standards have deteriorated, but it actually felt quite warm to me - it was almost 50ºF.

One thing I have noticed in the backyard lately is that the above cricket notwithstanding, pretty much everything I have been finding is really small. Small hoppers (when I find them), small spiders, springtails... There are some exceptions, like some of the flies, but mostly it's the littlest things that are holding out against the cold.

Random Bugs:

 I saw lots of gnats today. Mostly flying. And they're very small.

 I also saw lots of springtails. Or things I think are springtails.

 This one I am not sure about. But I think it is. It's a little bigger than the other springtails.

It also did not want its picture taken.

 Unfortunately, I forgot to change the settings on my camera for this one, but I wanted to post it anyway because of the lovely gold fuzz on this fly.

Ladybug. I saw another one, too. Still looking for a place to hibernate (which, by the way, is not the same thing as diapause, but the thing I read didn't explain the difference).

Arachnid Appreciation:
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 A real beauty.

How Many Words?

Oops, almost forgot to write The Blog today...

I am participating in NaNoWriMo this month - National Novel Writing Month. The premise of NaNoWriMo is that you write a 50,000 word novel during the 30 day-long month of November. If you do, you win! What do you win? Nothing, really, just the satisfaction of having done it. This is my eighth year participating, and I'll be honest, I find it to be pretty easy to write 50,000 words in a month. It's a challenge for a lot of people, but I have never found it to be all that hard. I usually get to 50,000 in less than two weeks. I almost always end up with over 100,000 words. But before this year I wasn't writing a blog, too. This year November came along and I was not only a wanna-be novelist, I was also a blogger. And this blog can take up to five hours of my day, when you include the search for the bugs that I feature on it. And I have never cheated and used pictures from a different day. Every day there's a blog, those bugs on the blog were photographed in my backyard that day. So NaNoWriMo was a bit more taxing on me this year, because I had this other writing to do. Granted, the blog is not taking five hours a day anymore. It's usually less than two, and sometimes less than one. And a couple of nights when it was one of those longer blog nights, I worked on the novel while pictures were loading - upload a picture, write a hundred words. Picture done? Upload another, write another hundred words. But when I started out the month, I figured, "Hey, this isn't going to be a problem, doing the blog AND NaNoWriMo, because the blog will be done in about a week! It's getting cold, there won't be anymore bugs!" And it did get cold. Freezing, in fact. Bugs can't survive in freezing weather, right? No way I would STILL be writing the blog every day by the end of November, right? NO WAY I would still be finding living bugs in the backyard by the 29th of November!

Because SUMMER IS OVER!

Well, you're not going to believe this. I don't believe it myself. I went outside today, where it was 32ºF - LITERALLY FREEZING, and not three steps out the door I found a spider - alive - on the side of the house. And when I leaned down to take a picture of the spider, I found this:

This, by the way, was not even the sunny side of the house. So this bug wasn't even basking in the sunshine (actually, come to think of it, it was beginning to cloud over by the time I went outside).

Then, a little while later, I found this:

Also not on the sunny side.

I also found this, which is more what I would expect to find when everything is supposed to have hunkered down for the long freeze:

Some sort of cocoon. In about five months or so maybe a moth will emerge.

It was a mind-boggling day in the backyard.

This is the time of year when you really start to see the things that were hidden in the summer, specifically birds' nests. But it's also the point when, in the last couple of years, I have spotted praying mantis egg cases. This year, though, I have not found any. So I guess I won't get to see the hatching of the baby mantises next spring.

Arachnid Appreciation:
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This could be the same crab spider that I saw a couple of days ago; it was in just about the same spot. But I know it's alive and didn't just die there and get stuck somehow, because it wasn't there yesterday.

Speaking of which, Rain Gauge Spider is still there, today she was huddled quite deep in her little alcove.

Is This It?

I'm not sure if today was That Day or not. It snowed last night.

 Just a little, and by early afternoon the sun had melted any that was not in the shade. It was cold out, though. The weather sensor said 34ºF, but the tiny puddle where the springtails have been waterskating was frozen. And nothing was skating on it.

The reason that I don't know if it was That Day or not is because I did find something - albeit something that I already knew was there, the rain gauge spider. But I am not sure if she was still alive. Yesterday she moved when I was looking at her, but today she didn't. It's not always easy to tell when spiders or bugs are alive or dead (and not just because a lot of them play dead as a defense mechanism). Other than that, though, I didn't see any insects, spiders, or non-insect arachnids of any kind. No flies basking in the sunlight on the front of the house, nothing taking advantage of the warmer microclimate of the sun kissed bedrock. Nothing flying past me. Nothing.

Not in the backyard, anyway.

And on that note... Arachnid Appreciation:
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Found in the dining room at about two o'clock in the morning.

 It was too large to be allowed to stay, but I waited until morning to release it outside. Of course, I didn't realize at the time how cold it was outside. I hope it found somewhere to take shelter...

Mostly Spiders

Happy Thanksgiving! I know what you think I am going to say, that I am thankful for bugs, but that's not what I am going to say. I am thankful for the whole of the natural world, because it is glorious in its entirety and in its every tiny detail. Which includes bugs.

So, yesterday's storm did not live up to its horrible billing, but the backyard was still mostly covered with ice this morning:

The temperature was above freezing, though, so it was already melting when I went outside, and was basically a layer of slush over everything.

And speaking of the yard being covered with... something, here's something else to think about when you are considering the natural world with gratitude. Right now the backyard is covered in... what euphemism shall I use... droppings. Deer and rabbit, to be specific. It's getting so that I have to be very careful not only of where I walk, but where I set down the monopod. And I really have to be careful when I want to kneel down to take a picture down low. Now, in the past I have not spend a great deal of time out in the backyard in November, because when it got cold, I just stayed inside - I certainly wasn't walking around out there for a half hour or more every day. So I don't know if this is how it always is in the late fall/early winter, but I know this is how it is in the early spring, when it is still fairly cold. And I always figured that the reason there was so much scat around was not because the animals were hanging around the yard more, and leaving things behind, but because when the temperature is below freezing the droppings wouldn't decompose, but I had another epiphany today about it, and it is this: perhaps the dung beetles have gone dormant/died/whatever for the winter, and that is why there is so much dung around. I have been aware that dung beetles exist for many years, from watching nature documentaries, but I kind of thought that they were just in the African savannah; it wasn't until I started poring over bug books that I found out that we have them in North America. Kind of a duh moment. Anyway, I have never seen a dung beetle, but according to what I just read in my bug book*, they are mostly nocturnal, and let's face it - I am not studying the dung in the yard up close. My point is this: be thankful for the dung beetle. Because if there were no dung beetles, well, you can imagine what the world would be like. And that's all I think I need to say about that. Okay, one more thing - that's why I think insects should get more respect and appreciation - whether we know it or not, many of them are so extremely to us and to our environment that we ought to be happy that they are here, surrounding us. And if we have to get bitten by the occasional mosquito, so be it. Bugs are great.

As you have no doubt surmised not only from the title of this post, but also from the fact that this post exists at all, I did find living, active arthropod life in the backyard today. What I did not find was insects. I really did expect today to be That Day, even if yesterday's storm was not as bad as advertised, but not ten feet out the back door I found a spider. And then another. And another. I also found a springtail. But I didn't get any pictures of insects - I did see two, flying, but that was it. Still, I think it was a pretty impressive result - the backyard was covered in ice for 24 hours or so, and it was 34ºF when I went out (I think. I could be remembering wrong, it might have been 36ºF. But that is not much better).

So... Springtail:

Is this adorable, or what? I love that it has that smiley face on top of its head, even though those are just marking, and not its actual eyes. I can't see its eyes, actually. This thing is so tiny, that even as close as I can get with the macro lens (and this is it), it's still too small to see a lot of detail. I also love its purple and black coloring, and that it looks like a computer circuit. It was scooting around on the same puddle from the other day. It's pretty impressive to be able to skate on water that is not frozen. I am now kicking myself because I never thought to look at puddles during the summer. Who knows what might have been in or on them? Well, next year...

Everything else from today is a spider, so arachnopobes, this is where you check out. Unless you want to brave it; only the first spider has a fairly high creepiness factor (well, not that high. But I am trying to put myself in the mind of an arachnophobe. Anyway). Arachnid Appreciation:
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 I haven't seen a crab spider in a while.

 The rain gauge spider is still alive and kicking.

 Looking for aphids, probably. I have to wonder what all of these spiders are eating at this point. Because I am still finding spiders, but not so much spider food.

The Forecast Was Wrong, But Not Wrong Enough

Here's a picture of the backyard today:

That is not snow. It is sleet. We have not had any snow so far, just rain and a lot of sleet. Frankly, I'd prefer snow. However, the type of precipitation is not important right now. What is important is that it came down hard all day, so I didn't get to go out to look for bugs. This picture was taken from the back porch, and with my less advanced camera, so it's a bit blurry because it was really dim outside today. The temperature was just above freezing, though, so it is possible that I could have found bugs if it wasn't raining/sleeting so hard.

And no, I have no idea what that deer is doing.

I did find a bug today, though:

On my couch. It's obviously just landed, because its wings are not quite tucked in all the way. I guess that's one ladybug that has found a warm place to spend the winter.

Portents

Red sky at night, sailor's delight, isn't that the deal?

Pink qualifies as red, right? So we're not going to have a nor'easter tomorrow? I know the meteorologists are adamant that we will, but they were wrong about today's forecast, which was for a sunny day. So why can't they be wrong about tomorrow?

Don't get me wrong - I like snow. And the first snowstorm of the year can be pretty special. But not when it messes up Thanksgiving. And hey, tomorrow is already a day off, so it's like wasting what could have been a snow day.

Anyway...

I realized that for all the times I have talked about the bugs that are swarming in the yard, those bugs have not been selected as Backyard Bug of the Day. Well, there was a different kind of bug that was swarming about a month ago, and those got to be Backyard Bug of the Day once, but the ones that have been swarming lately are different bugs (though it took me a while to realize that), and those have NOT been Backyard Bug of the Day.

Until now.

Backyard Bug of the Day:

 Quite dainty looking. The look like small craneflies, but I don't know what they are.

 I have noticed something about this particular swarming species - they are almost always swarming at the base of trees. Sometimes they will be over a patch of fallen leaves, but mostly they are around the roots of trees.

 I don't know what the swarming is all about, but I suspect evading predators has something to do with it.

Unless you see them land, it's hard to find them on the ground, and they never let me get very close before they take off again.

I talk to myself while I am walking around my backyard looking for bugs. I talk to the bugs, too. I don't expect them to answer, don't worry about my sanity, but I sometimes ask them to sit still, or land, or move where I can see them better. And when they are cooperative I often thank them for being so helpful. But when I talk to myself, it could be about anything. But today what I said to myself was "OH MY GOSH!"

Because I was so surprised to see this inching up a tree:

 I did not expect to see a caterpillar today. I haven't seen a caterpillar in weeks, and even then it was case moth caterpillars, which seem to be more of an autumn caterpillar anyway. Everyone else I would think is already pupating or is holed up somewhere to hibernate (woolly bears, for instance, overwinter as caterpillars and pupate in the spring. I guess they can do that because they wear wool coats. Ba dum bum).

Then, later, I found this!

 Another looper type caterpillar, but it looks like a different species - different body type and markings.

 I thought it was dead for a while, because it didn't move at all when I was getting all up in its face.

 But later I looked out the window and saw that it had moved. So I went back out to take more pictures.

And speaking of case moth caterpillars...

 I found one of those today, too!

I haven't seen one of these in a while, either, though I have definitely seen them more recently than I have seen any loopers. You probably can't tell from the picture, but it's bigger than the ones I saw weeks ago - but still pretty tiny.

Today was a day for springtails, too:

 It's a little hard to spot.

 On the house.

 I noticed a puddle of water on a rock, and since I saw a springtail scooting about on a puddle on a leaf recently I decided to check what I might find in this puddle, and there were several springtails zipping about on the water.

 It's hard to tell here, but they got into a bit of a kerfuffle.

This is the nanosecond before they sprung away - in opposite directions.

Considering the things I found today, I am feeling quite rueful about what yesterday could have been, if it hadn't been raining all day. Today was about ten degrees cooler. And tomorrow... Well, let's just say that today is probably the last hurrah of the bug season (I know I have said that before, but if we get ten inches of snow, that will probably be it for bugs for a while).

Random Bugs:

 Seeing these in a lot of places this week. On trees...

 On the package bin... There weren't any on the lawn chairs today, though (there were no bugs on the lawn chairs. It was weird).

 Tiny hoppers

 Bright hoppers

 Have you been noticing the difference in background color of the pictures lately? Not much green anymore, but sometimes the colors are pretty wild.

Woolly aphid

 I think this is just a piece of a bug. I don't know why I keep finding pieces of bugs on moss...

Enormous fly. I thought it was a bee at first, which would have been shocking, but nope, just a huge fly.

It was a pretty good day for spotting spiders, so let's have some Arachnid Appreciation:
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 Still hanging out under the rain gauge.

 As you can see, this was a difficult spider to get a shot of. It was shy and aggressive. But also it was in a really awkward location. We have a dirt pile in our yard that is about as high as my hip, and there is a sapling growing on top of it. The spider was on the sapling, and a bit high for me to be able to get a picture, but it's not that easy to stand on the side of the dirt pile, because it's soft, and steep. So there I was, standing on this steep little hill in my gardening clogs that I wear out in the yard, and not only sliding back down the hill, but sliding out of my shoes.

 And then I didn't even get a really good picture, because the spider wasn't into it.

 Still cool, though.

Such a beauty