Wintery Moths

Hello again. Yes, it's been a while. It's been cold, and I haven't seen any bugs interesting enough for me to post about them. Actually, I haven't seen many bugs lately at all, even on days in the 40s, or sunny days. Today as I was headed off into the woods to do some work I saw a mite crawling up a tree trunk, which was rather unexpected, so I put down my tools and went back into the house to get my camera, but by the time I got back to the tree the mite was out of sight. It was small–after all, it was a mite–but it was moving fast. Being bright red and moving is what made it visible to me in the first place, but I think it was going fast enough that in the time it took for me to go get the camera and get back to the tree, it crawled up too high for me to see it.

So, if I didn't get the picture of the mite, what am I posting about? I didn't do a bug walk after that, I put the camera back in the house and went back to my work. The only other insect I saw in the afternoon was a stonefly, and I've posted enough pictures of those lately. But then, in the early evening, as it was getting dark, my husband and I headed off for a walk in the woods. It got darker by the second, it seemed, but we had flashlights, so it didn't matter that night had fallen by the time we got back. And in the light of the flashlight I saw that there were insects active in the woods: moths. One of them landed right at my feet: Backyard Bug of the Day:

 I am cautiously naming this Backyard Bug of the Day, because I don't think this is a winter moth, based on the markings and other features of it; winter moth is an invasive species and I don't like making invasive species BBotD. So, on the assumption that this is a different species of moth, let's let it have that designation. However, the temperature had dropped into the 30s by the time we went on our walk, I think, so it was a bit surprising to see so many moths flitting about the dark woods.

Now, I am going to break a rule of the blog and post a picture from yesterday, just because I forgot to post it yesterday, being out of the habit of daily blogging now.

The bluebirds were back:

 I know you still can't see the blue, but at least you can see the bird in this picture. Actually, did I even blog about seeing the bluebirds a couple of weeks ago? I can't remember now. Anyway, here's the thing about bluebirds: you don't see them much in the winter, and they do migrate to an extent, but this area is part of their year-round territory–they'll stick around as long as they can stay warm, and find things to eat. Well, it has been a pretty mild winter so far, by Connecticut standards, and as you know from my other posts this month there are still bugs around for these insectivorious birds to eat so... we've met their criteria, and here they are. Well, here one is, but there were at least two that day. It made me very happy to see them.