November Snows Bring Fall Flowers

This is the scene in my backyard today:

 It's a new kind of scene for me, flowers in the snow. I like it. The mums don't seem to mind it, but we'll see what they're like in the coming days.

As I was standing at my bedroom window, looking down at all of the animal footprints in the snow, and noticing how well the snow had cleaned the window, a fly buzzed past the window a few times. So I knew there were bugs out and about today. The temperature was in the 40s, which is acceptable to some bugs. The blanket of snow obviously is going to keep anything cuddled up in the leaf litter from coming out today, but hey, I figured I'd find some flies, basking on the side of the house, or on tree trunks. I didn't find any flies, other than the one I saw out the window (the sun had been mostly covered by clouds by the time I went outside, so no basking in the sunshine anymore), but I did see this:

 Ladybeetle on the side of the house. Probably looking for a way in.

Backyard Bird of the Day:

 Robin. There was a whole flock of them. So much for robins being a sign of spring.

I ended up not finding as many bugs as I had hoped. Even though it was warmer today than the last couple of days, the winter fireflies I found had wedged themselves a little farther into the tree bark:

 

 I found something of an answer about the fate of the tree cricket. This was at the base of the tree. Looks like it was probably eaten.

 I found this chrysalis cradled among the needles of a cedar tree (are they called needles on a cedar tree?). You can see the threads that the caterpillar used to pull the needles together before becoming a chrysalis.

The Big Surprise Bug of the Day:

Case moth caterpillar.

I was happy to find a couple of spiders today for Arachnid Appreciation:
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Books or Bugs?

There is a scene in the novel Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte in which the eponymous Jane is telling Mr. Rochester a story about something that happened to her. At a crucial point in the story she decides she's told him enough for one night, and tells him she'll tell him the rest in the morning. His response is something along the lines of "WHAAAAAAT?!? TELL ME NOW!!!." She repeats that she will tell him in the morning, and since he thinks she might disappear overnight, she assures him that leaving her story unfinished is a guarantee that she will still be there in the morning. Every time I read the book I think that her logic here is nonsensical–how in the world does not finishing the story prove she'll be back? That may prove that Mr. Rochester will be there bright and early, waiting to hear the rest of it, because he is the one that wants to hear it, but she already knows the story, she could bail. Anyway, she does tell him the rest of the story in the morning, and the point of all of this literary discussion that has nothing to do with bugs is that I am like Mr. Rochester in that I can't deal with the suspense of an unfinished story. I hate uncertainty. So today, even thought it was 31ºF outside, below freezing, I went out to see if the tree cricket from yesterday was still there.

It was not. It wasn't on the tree, or anywhere nearby on the ground. I figure there are two possibilities for where it has gone: either it mustered up the energy to get itself into a better, more sheltered spot, or something at it. Probably the latter. That sounds sad for the cricket, but it was life-giving food for whatever ate it, so... thus goes the natural world.

I didn't plan on doing any further bug searching, because the temperature was, as I mentioned, below freezing. This is what my backyard looked like:

 All that rain has left the ground waterlogged, and when water in the soil freezes, it can make needle ice.

That is definitely NOT bug weather. But after looking for the cricket, as I was heading back to the house, I happened to see this (and had to go back in the house for my camera. I hadn't brought it out, I was so sure I wasn't going to find anything):

 Twice-stabbed ladybeetle. Probably chilled into a state of hibernation or diapause. I don't know if it was there yesterday, I didn't notice. But I was thinking, well, it got caught out by the cold, there won't be any active bugs today, and then, on the same tree, I saw...

 This fly was awake and moving. Not fast, but certainly active. And may I remind you that the temperature was BELOW FREEZING. It makes me laugh at all of the people who love winter because they think there are no bugs, because all the bugs die. Nope!

However, this was how things looked a few hours later:

 Our first real snow of the season. It's a little earlier than normal. And we got a little more than the forecast said. But it is supposed to be washed away by the rain tomorrow. I am anxious to see how the chrysanthemums react afterward.

Windchilled

I did NOT want to do a bug walk today. Not only was the temperature in the mid-30s, but the wind was howling fiercely, which meant it felt much colder than it was. There was NO CHANCE, I figured, that there were any bugs around. But that was why I had to do a bug walk, to prove that there was nothing there. Except... I was out very early today, as the sun was rising, and when I got home I decided to go look at a tree in the backyard where there was a tree cricket yesterday. I wanted to see if it was there still, or if it had taken cover during the cold night. Well, it was there, still clinging to the tree trunk. I didn't feel like going in to get my camera at that time, so I decided I was going to have to do a bug walk later. The cricket wasn't going to go anywhere in such cold temperatures, I figured (and it is important to point out that the temperature only rose two degrees between 7:00 a.m. and 2:00 p.m.).

When I got out there with my camera in the afternoon, this is what I found:

 The cricket was still there, but it wasn't so much resting on the tree as dangling from it. I don't know if it was still alive, and just too cold to function, or if it had died from the cold. It was almost as if the wind had blown it partway off the trunk, and it wasn't capable to moving to get a better grip. I contemplated bringing it inside, to see what would happen when it warmed up, but then what? I can't feed it all winter, and this is just life as an insect. For all I know it reached the end of its lifespan.

I didn't do a complete bug walk, covering the whole backyard, because frankly, it was miserable out there. I am not acclimated to temperatures in the 30s yet, and the windchill was just plain painful. Surprisingly, the cricket was not the only insect I found:

 Stinkbug on the front porch

 Fly on the side of the house.

 Winter firefly. This one has been in the same nook in the bark of this tree for weeks, on and off.

March fly. Of course, all of this just proves me wrong in what I said the other day, about the threshold for finding insects being the low 40s. Except I did say it is not an exact number. And I think these were just bugs that were already out there that got caught out by the cold. Nothing was emerging into this chill, I am pretty sure.

Dueling Measurments

I have two rain gauges in my backyard now, and they don't ever agree on how much rain we've had. Today, one said we had a tiny bit over 3", and the other said we had a little under 1.75". I was inclined to believe the lower amount, because it seemed more likely, but then I noticed that there were puddles in the backyard. And then I noticed that the ground was squishy. And then I found a new, small pond, and decided that the 3" measurement was probably the more accurate one. Finding all of this water meant one thing for me while looking for bugs: look on the surface of the water. And that's where I found today's Backyard Bug of the Day:

 Springtail. I was hoping for more of them, but this is the only one I saw. They are so tiny they can stand on the surface of the water, and the breeze blows them around.

 With all the rain, everything was waterlogged, and I think that includes this sweat bee:

 This was the only insect on the chrysanthemums today. I actually thought it was dead at first, but I saw it move.

I only found one tree cricket today:

 I can see why the others went for shelter.

 March fly, male

 Fly

 Moth

 I think this is a different species of March fly (there are many). It might be a female, I didn't get a good look at it.

Arachnid Appreciation:
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 The springtail was not alone on the puddle. There was an incredibly tiny spider there, too. And I can't tell, but that white speck might be another kind of springtail?

Here's a bit of magnification on them both:

 

 Crawling around in the leaf litter

Spotting the Impossible

I was walking around my backyard today, not finding many bugs, and thinking about what it was I was likely to find, and I thought to myself, "well, I know I am not going to find any caterpillars."

And then I found this–Backyard Bug of the Day:

 Looper caterpillar of some kind.

 I can't believe I even spotted it.

Nowadays my bug walk always starts with looking at the chrysanthemums, as the most likely spot to find insects. Today was warmer than yesterday by a few degrees, but they were sort of important degrees, taking it from right around the no-bugs threshold to a more bug-friendly feel (though honestly, still not by much. And it IS mid-November):

There were hover flies...

... One bee, and one gnat...

 

 ... and this nymph still hanging around on its flower, but underneath it today. Being a Hemiptera, it is not necessarily after just the flower's nectar, but the plant's liquids in general, so it can probably feed just about anywhere on the plant.

I only found two March flies today:

 ... and neither of them were female. I hope the males are finding females, or there won't be any more March flies.

I didn't find as many tree crickets today, but a few of them were in the same places they were yesterday. Interestingly, they were on the same trees, but not in the same exact places or positions, so they did move around at least some:

 And one winter firefly, walking around, so you can see its head (which they keep tucked under their pronotum when they are just resting).

Freezing Point

We all learn in science class about freezing points, the temperature at which a liquid become a solid (and also that same solid become a liquid when the temperature is trending in the opposite direction), and that the freezing point of water is 32ºF/0ºC. There's a similar point for insects, but it's not so precise. Not a temperature at which they freeze (although I guess there is that), but the temperature at which they just disappear from view. In my observations over the last few years I have found that to be around 40ºF. Warmer than that, and I will find insects. Colder than that, and I won't find any, not winter fireflies, not winter crane flies, nothing. But like I said, it's not precise. There are microclimates, so maybe the sensor on my back porch says it's 39ºF outside, but somewhere in the sun, the trunk of a tree or a rock face, might be warm enough for something to be out. Today was in the low 40s, so we have not dipped below the No Bugs temperature. It's too cold for a lot of things, but not for everything. The bugs I found today were somewhat surprising, though.

Backyard Bug of the Day:

 Dragonfly. Not what I was expecting so late in the season, and when it's so cold.

 It's quite a small one.

 When I first spotted it, it was on the side of the house. Its wings are quite beat up.

Something else I was not expecting with the temperature in the low 40s? A lot of tree crickets:

 Yesterday this tree trunk had several winter fireflies. Today it had one winter firefly and a couple of tree crickets.

 This is the one in the photo above.

I heard one cricket chirping today, but I don't think it was a tree cricket. My question is, why were these all out today? Several of them were on the shady side of trees, so I know they weren't soaking up warmth from the sunshine. And where have they been lately?

Other Bugs:

 Twice-stabbed ladybeetle

 This little one is still hanging out on its flower, the only insect on the chrysanthemums today. Based on the fact that it doesn't have wings, I suspect it was on the plant already when I brought it home from the garden center. This, of course, is how invasive species can spread, sometimes from country to country, when plants are moved around. Not that I am saying this is an invasive species, but that is one way that they make their way around the world, on imported plants.

 There were a lot of flies around today, mostly basking in the sunshine on the side of the house. Or on tree trunks.

Arachnid Appreciation:
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A tiny spider: