Blogger Fail

I am a perfect disgrace of a backyard bug blogger. Both days this weekend were in the 50s – today was almost 60ºF – and I didn't do a proper bug walk. I did go out today just before dusk (it's amazing how quickly a day can go from bright to dark), but by then, without the apricity (vocab reminder: apricity is the warmth of the winter sun), I suspect many bugs that might have been out earlier had gone back into their cozy spaces. I did see bugs - a few winter crane flies, some other kind of fly, a gnat – and yesterday while we were in the car I found a spider dangling from my hand (I moved it to the dashboard), but I only managed to get one bug picture today in the backyard:

 Winter firefly. Just the kind of thing one expects to find on a sunny February day when the temperature is less than one degree away from 60ºF. This was taken in the last minutes before it became too dark to see.

 

 It was pretty dark by the time I found this, but that's not the reason I don't know what it is. I have two guesses - either a cocoon, or an egg. It was hanging from a cedar tree.

I do occasionally find insects in the house, too – there was a moth I found on the skylight in the bathroom on Christmas day that has been there ever since. Occasionally I will find a stinkbug. Yesterday I found a western conifer seed bug on the storm door (we were on our way out the door, so instead of taking its picture like a dutiful backyard bug blogger, I just nudged it out the door when we went out). And this evening a little visitor dropped by while I was sitting at my computer:

 I was amused by the fact that this ladybeetle was crawling around on my bee notebook. It (the ladybeetle, not the notebook) has a bit of a fungal problem.

Tomorrow isn't supposed to be quite as warm, but I will try to get outside to find something interesting. This whole week is supposed to be rather balmy by February standards, but it is also supposed to be raining, so I may or may not get a chance to go looking for bugs.