Insect Update

It's been a while since I've posted (or had anything to post), so here's what it's been like in the backyard this week (the highlights. Or low lights, depending on the day and your weather preference): Sunday, snow, rain, and ice. Monday, a high of 9ºF. Thursday, 4.25 inches of rain and temperatures in the mid 50s. Today (Friday), back down into the thirties; it froze overnight, based on the fact that there's ice in the backyard, but the high in the afternoon was in the upper 30s, above freezing, but not warm.

It's been quite a week.

Due to the cold early in the week, the ground froze again, so when we got that ton of rain (which would have been about 2 feet of snow if it was 25ºF colder), the "vernal pool" puddle filled up again, and it was quite extensive. Then the overnight freeze iced up the edges. I couldn't get close to the parts that were still water, so I couldn't tell if there were springtails on the surface, but I did find other springtails in the backyard today.

I found three species, in fact. Two were on a tiny, half-frozen puddle on a rock:

And the others were snowfleas that were congregating on the same rock they have been gathering on lately (though this is the first time I have seen them this week).

I also saw a winter firefly:

This is the first one I have seen in a couple of weeks.

And stoneflies, lots of stoneflies:

I have never seen so many stoneflies before in my backyard. I used to see them in the spring, but they are the bug I have seen the most in the last month or so (although, because the springtails are usually in big groups, I have technically seen a lot more of those).

One winter ant. It is a bit cold for them, but there are warmer micro-climates, particularly where there is sunshine on rocks, which is where I found this.

There were little things flying around today, too, but I never got close enough to see what they were. The temperature is forecast to slide down again for a while, so it may be some time before there's another post. I realize all of the bugs I posted today are the same ones I have been seeing all month, I just wanted to show what happened outside after such weather extremes in January. I can't help but wonder what bugs were out yesterday, but it was too rainy and windy to go out with my camera, even with an umbrella. It was raining sideways at times.

I saw a lot of spider threads around the backyard, and since there was some severely hard rain yesterday I assume they were new today. So, I was on the lookout for spiders. I only found one for Arachnid Appreciation:
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