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Hi there. Long time no blog. There are several reasons for that, and one of them is that I just couldn't deal with how long it was taking to load pictures, between my slow internet and my slow computer. A couple of months ago we got upgraded to fiber optic internet, and around that time my computer died and I had to get a new one. But I am lazy, and I procrastinate a lot, so it's taken until now for me to try to load a picture on here to see if it has sped up at all and... wow. It used to take up to five minutes for a picture to load. Those lovely crocuses took a couple of seconds.
So, am I going to go back to blogging every day about bugs? No, because I have had other reasons for not posting, but I am going to do my best to get back to doing this at least sometimes. It's been about a year and a half since my last post, I think, and sometimes I have taken pictures and intended to post, but didn't do it–not enough time, not enough will to overcome inertia. I haven't done many bug walks in the last year and a half, but I am always looking for bugs when I am out in my yard, or in the woods. I even photograph them sometimes. I have taken a lot of walks in the woods since I last posted–I am out there almost every day. Today I spent almost three hours walking in the woods, following almost all of our paths, and walking in some places where there aren't paths (which was a thorny endeavor). I brought my camera with the macro lens on it. And I concentrated my efforts on finding bugs, with a pretty good level of success. One of the reasons I have not posted in so long is because there haven't been as many bugs, and I don't know if that's from climate change, or the droughts we've been having the last few years; it's worrisome, but it takes a long time to figure out what patterns mean. This winter I have barely seen any winter fireflies, stoneflies, or crane flies, and I don't think I saw any snow fleas at all (we had barely any snow, but you don't have to have snow to have snow fleas).
But it's not winter now. Well, astronomically we have a bit of winter left, but meteorologically we are almost two weeks into spring, and today the weather really expressed it. It was warm (60s) and sunny, and absolutely lovely. It felt good to be out in the woods with no coat, gloves, or hat, although I did have to wear my rain boots because many paths are muddy quagmires at the moment (we didn't have much snow this winter, but we were deluged with rain). I had hoped to see some frogs, and maybe snakes (we have seen both recently), but all I saw was some birds and bugs. And that's enough to make me happy today.
So, here we are. First blog in a long time... So what does that mean?
Backyard Co-Bugs of the Day! I saw enough bugs today that, given my lack of blogging made it hard for me to choose, so there's a bunch of Co-Bugs of the Day.
Backyard Co-Bug of the Day #1:
Winter firefly. I have only seen a couple of these this winter (and, to reiterate past information, they are not just active in the winter, but year round, are diurnal–active in the daytime–don't have bioluminescence as adults, and can be seen on sunny, mild winter days on the trunks of trees), but today I saw several of them.
Two on one tree. A far cry from past winters when I would see a dozen or so on the trunk of the tree next to my driveway, but still welcome to see.
Backyard Co-Bugs of the Day #2:
Candy striped leaf hoppers.
As usual, I found dozens of these sunning themselves on the branches and leaves of a beech sapling. They like mild winter days.
Backyard Co-Bug of the Day #3:
Backyard Co-Bugs of the Day #4:
Blackfly larvae. These are aquatic larvae, and I find them clinging to leaves and rocks in the stream in the woods. With the amount of rain we have had the last couple of months the stream has been flowing strong, and these larvae cling to leaves or rocks in the current and grab food as it flows past them. I am not sure if they eat plant matter or other insects, but they are pretty small, so whatever they're grabbing must be, too. Blackflies are kind of unpleasant–they bite–and the larvae are pretty creepy, but they are still interesting.
Closer look... In order to get these shots I had my left foot in the stream, my right knee kneeling on some soggy moss, and my camera lens about an inch from the surface of the water.
The crocuses are creeping myrtle are not the only things blooming...
Skunk cabbage flowers are in bloom in the wetland areas of the woods.
This would be Backyard Bird of the Day if I had had a different lens on my camera today, and it had been a little more cooperative:
Other Bugs:
While there were no bees on the crocuses, there were some gnats.
Winter crane flies have been a rare sight this winter, but I found a swarm of them today:
Stone fly
Anyone who thinks that flies all die when winter comes is wrong. I often see them sunning themselves on the front of my house in the winter, even on cold days. I saw a few different species of flies in the woods today, and a couple even let me get close with my camera:
Wasp
The ponds in the woods are full of water, and today when I was looking for salamander eggs I saw a couple of water striders:
I saw this, too, but I don't know if these are eggs, or just bubbles:
Arachnid Appreciation:
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Jumping spider on the screen on the back door
There are lots of tiny spiders on tiny webs in the woods.
There are some areas of the woods with rain pools, including a spot where we have a path that is currently inaccessible. I went to check it out today and found this spider struggling on the water:
I rescued it, but it did not thank me.
I only rescued it because it appeared to be struggling; often I see spiders walking or sort-of-skating on the surface of the stream or ponds, like this one that was close to the struggling one, but not having any problems:
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