Weirdness and Blooming

Today is to be the last day of our December springtime. Tomorrow is forecast to be normal, as in almost 30 degrees colder than it has been. It was another gloomy day, with only a few minutes of sunshine. I am resigned to the cold tomorrow, partly because we are supposed to get at least some sunshine, which is what I most want right now. All the gloomy days are getting to me. I went out to look for bugs today, not expecting to find anything interesting, and as bugs go I didn't really, just the usual. But I have a Backyard Bug of the Day anyway.

Backyard Bug of the Day:

 I think this is another species of springtail. It's bigger than the ones I usually see. The picture is so washed out because, in addition to the gloominess of the day, this little critter was hiding in a crevice in the bark, so I had to up the exposure on the picture so you could see it.

Other than that springtail, all I saw were the usual springtails and a couple of winter craneflies. I did find some other interesting life forms in the backyard today, though. At least, I think they were life forms. Some of them.

This, I am not so sure...

 This was a blob of gelatinous goo I found on the path. It was about the size of a ping pong ball, maybe. I don't know if this is a weird fungus, or what.

 I am pretty sure this is a fungus.

 Biggest surprise of the day - a clover flower in bloom!

No spiders today, but I did find this tiny web:

Less than an inch across. It was in the leaf litter on the ground. My guess would be that the spider that made it is hiding nearby under the leaf the web is attached to.

Luck

Oh, where to begin...

Well, with the Backyard Bug of the Day, I suppose:

 Yes, I found a Backyard Bug of the Day - a green lacewing attracted to the porch light! I am pretty sure that a green lacewing has already been Backyard Bug of the Day this year, but showing up today so unexpectedly gives it special privileges.

 Pretty, green wings.

Now, remember last night I posted about the Christmas spider? Afterward (and I know I should have done this first, before I blogged about it), and well after midnight, meaning it was today (which matters because I am including it in today's blog), I looked up the reason for hanging a spider on a Christmas tree, and found several variations on a story about it. The basic gist of the legend is that a spider, having pity for a poor widow (or family in some versions) who could not afford decorations for the tree, covered the tree in sparkling spider silk to make it beautiful. This is said to be the origin of hanging tinsel on a tree. But also ornaments of spiders or spider webs. And in some of the stories the widow never wanted for anything ever again. Which is where the good luck part comes in. More on that later... But for now... having just read about luck and spiders, I heard a bug bonking into the reading lamp on my bedside table, and lo and behold, there was a ladybug:

 I know, a terrible picture - it wouldn't sit still. Anyway, ladybugs are seen as good luck in some places, I think. Of course, I have been bitten by these orange ones, which was definitely not good luck, but anyway, I decided to take it as a lucky omen.

 I found another one this evening. Also not cooperative for picture taking... I can tell it is not the same ladybug by the pattern of spots on its elytra.

Anyway, today was sunny for the first time in ages, and WARM again (I don't know what the high was, but it was in the 60s) - warm enough that I wore shorts all day. The sun was the thing the bugs were waiting for, obviously, because there were a lot of them flying around. Mostly gnats and flies, I think, and a few craneflies, which I have not seen in a few days, or maybe a week. And, because it was still damp out, springtails:

 It's in the middle of the picture.

And ants:

 Haven't seen those in a while.

And hoppers! Two different species!

I mentioned flies, right?

Anyway, back to that good luck thing... Arachnid Appreciation:

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

 So, just after I finished reading about the Christmas spider, some accounts of which mentioned that it was good luck to find a spider in your house on Christmas day, I glanced over and saw a spider on my bedside table. Now, my bedside table is a place where I do NOT want to see a spider, but this one was good luck, right? It was also too shy to pose for pictures.

Then I went out for my bug walk today, and my backyard was decorated like the trees in the story - there were threads of spider silk all over the place. Not on any of the evergreen trees, sadly, so I didn't have a Christmas tree like the ones in the stories. But I did find a lot of spiders:

 This one...

 This one...

 It looks a bit like it is made of beads, like many of the spider ornaments I saw last night when I searched online for information about the tradition.

 This one... it has something in its web.

 I can't tell if it's a springtail or a gnat.

This one...

I saw one of the ones from yesterday, too. These were in the backyard, not my house, so I don't know if they count as lucky finds for Christmas day or not. But they were definitely a lucky find from the standpoint of looking for insects and arachnids to blog about, so... there you have it. And they are lucky to have this beautiful weather, and bugs to eat.

Merry Christmas!

This is a busy time of year, and Christmas Eve is usually a very busy day. But one thing I don't usually have to make time for on December 24th is a bug walk. The average temperature for this date in Connecticut is 37ºF, too cold for bugs. But today... today was a record-setting day. I don't know what the high ultimately turned out to be, but it was about 30 degrees above average - in the mid-60s. So, I had to at least try to find some bugs. However, by the time I had a chance to go out, it was almost dark. Now, I didn't really expect to find anything, because the bugs are all behaving as they should according to the calendar, even if people's lawns are still growing and I have heard reports of trees beginning to bloom out of confusion. So don't think I had any miracles,  in spite of the spring warmth. All I found was springtails (it rained in the morning, and never really cleared up, so it was very damp outside), and I saw a spider, though it was too dark to get a picture of it by then. But I do have a couple of pictures of the springtails to show you, and then something else...

 I know, I know, I keep saying I am not going to keep posting springtails, but these were fun - there is a puddle on the front walk, and these springtails - about 50 of them - were walking around on the surface of the puddle. Or standing around, and the slight breeze would move them like they were skating. I even saw a few of them spring from the surface of the water. That was pretty neat to see.

 So cute...

Now, for something seasonal...

I recently read an article about Christmas traditions in different countries, and I found out that in Ukraine, people hang spider Christmas ornaments on their Christmas trees, as they are meant to give you good luck in the coming year. Sadly, the article didn't give any background on this tradition, or any explanation about why spiders are good luck, but I liked the idea, of course! This not being an American tradition, I was not able to find a spider ornament, so I had to make one. I tried to keep certain aspects of it arachnologically correct, the right number of body segments, eyes, legs, chelicerae, pedipalps... but it is a spider of my own design. At least, I am not aware of any real spiders with the design of holly leaves and berries on their back. So, here you have it, my Christmas Spider:

Merry Christmas to all, and may your spiders bring you good luck in the new year!

At Least I Have Spiders

Hi there, bug fans! It's been a week since I had anything to blog, so... I haven't blogged. Some of those days I had nothing because it rained all day - I think the rain is trying to erase the drought from most of this year in the last two weeks of the year. Some of the days it was actually too cold for bugs - one day we didn't make it out of the 30s. Close, it was 39ºF, but still too cold. Most days it's been pretty warm, 50s and 60s. The high this afternoon was in the high 50s, but right now, as I write this at 2 in the morning, it is 61ºF. And pouring rain (We are NOT going to have a white Christmas). But there was one day this week I went out to do a bug walk between bouts of rain, and all I found was springtails. Lots and lots of springtails. It's been nice and wet for them. But I didn't bother blogging about just that.

So, I have a springtail today:

 I didn't see very many of them today, oddly, but there were a few around.

I saw some bugs flying by the windows today, too, gnats or something, but didn't see them when I was outside.

By the way, here is the link for the calendars again. They are now all in my "shop", so just one link to find them all, which is not at all like "One ring to bind them all," so don't worry that I am going all Lord of the Links on you. Click HERE for bug and spider calendars

So, on to the real reason I blogged today - I have spiders for Arachnid Appreciation!
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.

 I found 2 little spiders today, this one...

... and this one:

This is not a view I get very often of a spider on a web - a side view of the spider AND the web.

Better Than Nothing!

I have a philosophy that the key to happiness is low expectations. It is a cynical philosophy, but it has a great deal of truth in it - if your expectations are low, you aren't disappointed when they are met, and if things turn out better - and it's hard for them not to - you get to be happy, and maybe are made happy by something very small.

Like, say, a bug. A Backyard Bug of the Day:

 Some sort of leaf bug, I presume, hanging around in spite of the fact that today was only in the low 40s (very Decemberish), and overcast (at least, it was overcast when I was outside. It had been sunny earlier, but I missed that opportunity), and there aren't many leaves around (well, there are lots of dead, brown ones. But I don't think Hemipteras can feed on those, because they suck liquid out of leaves as food, and dry, dead leaves don't have that). I found it on the side of the house as I was about to go inside and give the bug walk up for the day. Which I did after I found this, because I was done, and because hey, I found something. So I ended the walk on a high note.

I had very low expectations for finding bugs today - I didn't think I'd find any at all. So, I was made happy by that one little bug. Philosophy in action.

I did see a bunch of springtails, and ONE winter crane fly:

And that's all the bugs for today. Still, not bad for a Decemberish December day!

Surprise!

I have a surprise for you...

Backyard Bug of the Day!

 Not only is this a Backyard Bug of the Day because it's not one of the three bugs I have been seeing for the last couple of weeks, it may actually be something I have never seen before. At this point I really can't remember everything I have seen, and I think I have at least seen things that are similar, but I am pretty sure this is a new bug for me. It is always a joy for me to find something new; after four years of observing the bugs in my backyard, it's pretty rare for that to happen anymore. I am sure that there are about a thousand species of insects in my backyard that I have never seen before, but they are well hidden, and I keep seeing the same ones. Granted, I have seen a LOT of species of bugs. But given how many there are, I have seen the tiniest drop in the bucket.

 Of course I have no idea what it is...

 It's small, but bigger than a springtail, as you can see from the springtail at the bottom of this picture. This rock was covered with springtails, too. And they were springing all over the place.

 I didn't notice while I was taking the pictures, because this thing was moving so fast it was all I could do to try to keep it in focus, but it seems to have very small wings. That makes me think that this is an immature something. It seems an odd time of year for an immature bug to be around, because there's not a lot of time left for growing (and in a normal December, it would be at least 20 degrees colder every day. But this is looking to be the warmest December on record, apparently), but as I have said before, the bugs know better than I do what is best for them. Anyway, this looks like it could be an immature beetle of some kind?

 Here's a zoomed in shot.

 There was this kind of springtail on the rock, too...

 Photobombed by a mite. Which I know is an arachnid, but it's not a spider, so I am hoping the arachnophobes who read this won't freak out...

 ... and speaking of mites, I saw another one today, on a tree...

 ... where it was photobombed by a springtail. I guess what goes around comes around. It's hard to se in this picture, because it's not in good focus, but it's below the mite.

 I didn't get any pictures where both the mite and the springtail were in focus...

 I saw a fly today, too.

Today was cooler than the last few days, which just means we only got into the mid-50s, instead of the 60s. It was still warm for December. But it was sunny, which the bugs seem to like. Strangely, though, I didn't see any winter crane flies. It was windy today, which was the advent of colder weather, but supposedly it will warm up again next week. We shall see...

Arachnid Appreciation:
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.

I had to empty the rain gauge after last night's almost 1 inch of rain, and found a spider lurking underneath again.