Springing, But Not Spring

As I walked around my backyard today I had to remind myself about a hundred times, "It's not spring. It's not spring. It's not spring." Because it felt like spring, but if I let myself start thinking that it is spring, and winter is over, and relax into my springtime state of mind I am going to be in for a shock when winter remembers itself and revives its normal activities. It's still January, after all. There's still 2 months of official winter yet, including the month that is on average the snowiest, never mind that cold and snow can linger beyond the astronomical moment when springtime begins. All of which is to say, I have to remind myself not to get my hopes up. It's not going to be lovely mild weather from here on out. Flowers are not about to sprout and bloom. The trees are not about to break out their flowers and leaves. Every day the backyard is not going to be teeming with insect life. And yet, today, colder than the last few days and completely overcast, there were a lot more bugs for me to find. I knew there would be bugs today as soon as I opened the curtains when I got up–there was a swarm of crane flies bobbing around outside the window.

Mostly I found one kind of insect, all over the place. Backyard Bug of the Day:

 Springtails. After weeks of searching in vain, I finally found springtails, lots and lots of springtails. They were EVERYWHERE.

 Skating on the surface tension of a puddle–I looked on the puddles for them yesterday and the day before, and there were none. Today... all over. This is probably my favorite thing about springtails, the way they glide along on the surface of water.

 Hard to photograph, though, because I did not want to kneel in the mud.

 On a tree trunk...

 ... on a rock...

 ... one a leaf...

 A different species, on a tree trunk...

 On the lawn furniture...

So, what else was out there on this chilly, gray day?

 

 Biggest surprise: candy striped leaf hopper. Not that unusual, in that I have seen them basking in the sun on warmer winter days (think 50s) when it is sunny, but today was NOT warm (I think it was about 42ºF when I went out) and it was definitely not sunny.

 

 I think this is some kind of weevil.

 

 Twice-stabbed lady beetle

 

 In spite of the swarm I saw outside the window, this is the only crane fly I saw on my bug walk.

Arachnid Appreciation:
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Tiny spider, on the side of the garden shed, where there were also a lot of springtails, which I presume provide food for the spider.