My backyard looks really weird at the moment. Mostly that is because I got so used to the snow that now that it is almost gone, and a lot of it disappeared very rapidly in the last couple of days, it feels like the landscape has suddenly changed. The other thing is that we had such a heavy snow cover, and it lasted for so long (much longer than usual) that everything has been flattened. The whole yard looks like it has been ironed. The grass, the garden beds, the places that are covered with leaves - all flattened and strange. I can't wait for things to start growing again, and fluffing up.
Arthropods made some strides into spring in the backyard today, mostly in the form of spiders, which I'll put at the end as usual, but in insects as well. Unfortunately, the major theme of the day was for anything with wings to fly away right before I could take its picture, so you won't get to see the bee/wasp that I saw. Mostly there were a lot of flies similar to the one that was Backyard Bug of the Day yesterday, but with less impressive antennae. Anyway, I exaggerate. Not everything flew away before I could take a picture.
Backyard Bug of the Day:
Some kind of beetle. I feel compelled to point out that even though this tiny beetle didn't fly away, it was far from cooperative, and kept scurrying around, so this was the best picture I got.
The Cricket was back in its usual spot today, and feeling pretty feisty, I think. Much more active than usual. This is probably related to the fact that it was almost 60ºF out.
The first ant of the season! You know you're desperate for spring when you get excited about seeing an ant.
Okay, we're all spiders from here on out. Really cute spiders. My favorite spiders, in fact. The kind of arachnids I can really appreciate. I checked out the spider in the hose reel box again, and felt kind of wistful about the fact that usually in the summer and fall I would see jumping spiders in there, and I felt a little bit disappointed that I hadn't seen any jumping spiders yet this year. Then I turned around and saw one on the side of the house. And another. And then another. In total I saw six jumping spiders today, of a variety of species, all beautiful and adorable. So, without further ado, Arachnid Appreciation:
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Here's the spider in the hose reel box. Yesterday's pictures didn't show the beautiful pattern on its abdomen.
Now, jumping spiders!
Jumper #1- I feel compelled to point out that the white circles in the eyes are just a reflection of my ring flash, and not a part of the spider's eyes, but they do enhance the adorableness of the jumping spiders by giving them funny expressions.
Jumper #2 - Isn't it gorgeous?
Jumper #3
Jumper #4 - Nice view of the eyes on the side of its head.
Jumper #5 - This one has one of those flies in its grip.
Jumper #6 - This one is underneath the rain gauge.
On the left you can see the silk tent under which Rain Gauge Spider spent the winter. You can still see Rain Gauge Spider in there (I still have no proof either way that it is alive or dead, but it's not looking good). Under the rain gauge has always been a very popular place for spiders.
This is the one from under the rain gauge. It crawled out as I was putting the rain gauge back in place, and I almost squished it.
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