Holdouts

I didn't even look for bugs the last two days because it was too cold, a couple of wintery days, but here's the first thing I saw when I walked out the back door today to do my bug walk:

 The frost didn't kill everything.

Backyard Bug of the Day:

 Isabella Tiger Moth Caterpillar, most commonly known as Woolly Bear caterpillar, famous for its ability to predict the harshness of the coming winter, though no one seems to agree on whether large black ends mean a bad winter, or a large rusty middle means a bad winter. Science says they don't even know, and how would they? I found two of these today, but not on my bug walk; I found them just as evening was coming on and we were getting home from a brief errand. It was almost dark, but I still was able to see this one on a rock in the rock garden.

 I don't think I have ever noticed before that their spiracles (the holes along the sides of their bodies that they breathe through) are orange.

 I then found this one on the front porch as I was going into the house. That got me thinking that I have only ever seen woolly bear caterpillars on the ground, usually walking in a bit of a hurry, but sometimes just sitting there, and I began to wonder what it is they eat, because I have never seen on one a plant, unless you count walking in the grass as being on a plant. Well, it turns out I should count that, because I looked up what they eat, and grass is one of their food plants. So are dandelions, but I have never seen a woolly bear eating one. There are other plants they eat, too, and they are all low to the ground apparently, which may be why I never see them elsewhere. But here is the most interesting thing I read about woolly bears in Caterpillars of Eastern North America, by David L Wagner:

"Caterpillars are often seen crossing roads and driveways. They are most conspicuous around the time of the first frosts. Why they wander is puzzling, because the Woolly Bear can eat virtually anything and place themselves at risk when moving about."

So, that sort of answers the question about why I only see them out walking, but only by saying no one knows why they do it. I think I find them most frequently when mowing the lawn, which makes sense now. They overwinter as caterpillars, hiding in the leaf litter.

 And this is what they do for self defense, curl up in a little, fuzzy ball. This one is curled up because I used a twig to nudge it to the side so it would't get stepped on.

I didn't have a very successful bug walk, even though the temperature had risen to almost 50ºF by the time I went out. There were quite a number of flies around, mostly basking in the sun on the side of the house, but not interested in being photographed. There were also winter crane flies and other little flying things to be seen, but again, not that I could photograph. I found two ants:

 

 One candy-striped leaf hopper (on mountain laurel, which is evergreen).

One aphid

Two winter fireflies (here's one).

And a few little spiders, one of which I photographed for Arachnid Appreciation:
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 This is a tiny spider. You may wonder how I find things that are almost too small to see, and there are various techniques, some of which depend on luck, but one way is to look for movement. Even tiny things are easier to see when they are moving. But with the case of this spider it is only partly because it was moving that I saw it. But it is mostly because what caught my eye was its shadow moving. You know how late in the day your shadow is really long? Well, same for tiny spiders, and though the spider was too small on its own to catch my eye as I glanced at the rock where it was, its shadow was big enough for me to notice. I am not sure you really get a sense of that from the pictures, but you can a little bit.