I really thought that today was going to be the day when there would be no bugs. It snowed last night, and though the snow melted in the morning, it was only 39º by early afternoon. I think it was 41º when I went out for my bug walk (and back to 39º when I came back in). I was sure that the bugs were done.
But then I walked out the back door, and there was a spider on the back porch. It was probably the same one that was there yesterday. The point is, it was alive. Today again I found almost as many spiders as insects, but I did find a few hardy insects, some of which were surprising finds.
There's no Backyard Bug of the Day today, though. Everything I found in the backyard today has been Backyard Bug of the Day already this year. But I'm going to show you what I found anyway.
The Hardy Ones:
In June I wouldn't bother taking a picture of this bug. But today, I took it in case I didn't see anything else.
Snowy tree cricket! I should have known I'd see one of those today. Interestingly, though, I didn't hear any crickets outside today. (Note: the cricket from yesterday that was crammed in a crack in a tree was not there today).
I don't think you can see what's going on here - there's a puddle of water on this leaf, and the springtail was zooming around on the surface of the water.
The number of aphids has dwindled, but there are a couple of stalwarts.
We have a bin out front where the mail carrier leaves packages, and today I got a package so I was looking inside. It is full of spider webs and egg sacs, and various other mysterious constructions, but today I also noticed that it was full of springtails. I know this is a terrible picture, but I liked that there were different sizes of them kind of piled up in the corner. I am sure they were in there because the bin is dark colored, and sitting in the sun, so it was probably the warmest spot in the yard.
Daily Dandelion:
Arachnid Appreciation:
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This is a spider I captured in my bug vacuum late last night (after midnight), because it was too big and close to the couch to be allowed to stay in the house. However, because it was so cold last night I waited until daytime to release it outside. But of course I took its picture first. It's blurry because it's still inside the bug vacuum. It built a bit of a web in there.
Don't you just want to scritch its tiny spider belly?
The spider on the back porch.
The spider that lives under the rain gauge. I was emptying the gauge today and checked to see if it was still there.
Spider in the package bin.
Mite in the package bin.
Slightly better look at this lovely.
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