Looking at Clouds From Another Side

I read a book once about clouds. It was a field guide to the different kinds of clouds, giving their names, and explaining what caused them to be the particular shape and form, and what they portended. It was an interesting book, and though I didn't actually learn the names by heart, or even really learn to distinguish them all, I enjoyed reading it and trying to identify the many kinds of clouds I saw on the road trip I was traveling on as I read it. The book had something to do with the Cloud Appreciation Society, and there was a part, I think in the introduction, in which the author expressed his annoyance at people who say they hate cloudy days. To him, you see, clouds are fascinating, and I kind of understood him. I don't like overcast days, but even though I have expressed annoyance at clouds many times, I realized when reading his defense of them that I was generalizing. Because I do like clouds, when they are not covering the entire sky with a uniform sheet of darkening gray. And I think most people probably do feel the same way - they have at least some appreciation for the big, fluffy, white clouds, and look for shapes in them, and enjoy them, and then say, "Ugh, a cloudy day," sometimes, not meaning that they hate all clouds.

I was thinking about all of this today on my bug walk, on a mostly cloudless, bright, not-as-warm-as-yesterday-or-the-day-before, windy afternoon. But I was thinking about it in terms of bugs. I have seen a meme on the internet a couple of times where people express joy that it is freezing cold winter because that means all the bugs have died, bwa ha ha ha ha! When I see that meme I get annoyed, for two reasons. One, because it's inaccurate - the bugs haven't all died. Go out on a winter day when the temperature is in the 40s or higher and you will see them. Even ants will be out in the winter when it's warm enough - they aren't just dying at the end of summer when the picnics are all over. And the reason insects will be so abundant in the spring is because so many of them are just spending the winter out of sight, somewhere sheltered. And think about it - there are winter fireflies, and winter crane flies. They have those names because they are around in the winter - not on the coldest of days, but on some pretty chilly ones. The other reason I get annoyed by the meme is because the more I have come to appreciate insects, the more annoying I find it that so many, many people hate them just because. Sure, many of them can be awful - the ones that bite, and spread disease, but many more are extremely helpful, and in fact vital to our lives. And the vast majority of them will never interact with any human at all, so no human has any reason to hate them. But I guess I used to be one of those people, too. I used to think bugs are icky. So I shouldn't be too hard on them. But maybe they could at least remember this - butterflies are insects, too. And maybe we shouldn't hate so easily.

I didn't find as many insects as I expected today, even with the temperature not making it to 50ºF. I was out in the warmest, still sunny part of the afternoon. But hey, it's February, and I did see insects, so I can't complain!

Backyard Bug of the Day:

 Whatever little hideaway this wasp has been spending the winter in must have warmed up in the last couple of days.

 

 I expected to find winter fireflies today. What surprised me is that this is the only one I found.

 I had another look at yesterday's mystery object, which I am pretty sure is a cocoon...

I wanted to see it again because after looking at the pictures of it that I took yesterday I thought maybe I should look at the other side of it, and sure enough, there's a big hole in it. There's nothing in there anymore - whether it emerged on its own or was extracted and eaten I do not know.