Bug Magnet

Today was a day for up-close-and-personal arthropod encounters.

It started with this:

 Tiny fly landed on my hand.

Then, there was this:

 This wasp landed right on my forehead. Fortunately, it flew off on its own before I could brush it off; I didn't know it was a wasp that had landed there, and if I had tried to brush it off it might have stung me.

And then, there was THIS horror:

I looked down and saw about twenty ticks crawling up my leg. Nightmare. So much for tick-repellent pants. On the other hand, maybe they didn't like the pants, and the reason they were running was to get off of them. I helped them off, which makes me sound much kinder than I am, given that they are all dead now. My live and let live policy for critters does not extend to ticks, arachnids that I most definitely do NOT appreciate.

As I was walking around my backyard today, thinking about the fact that flowers were beginning to bloom, I thought that I should be seeing bees soon. Then I found today's Backyard Bug of the Day:

 I presume this is a bee. This is the only view I got of this insect, deep inside a crocus flower.

Another insect inside another crocus

 I found these two in the road - technically not in my yard, but I had one foot in my yard as I was taking the picture. Does that count?

 Twice-stabbed lady beetle

 Candy striped leaf hoppers basking in the sunshine

 Winter firefly

After enjoying all of this wonderful springtime I was dismayed to read the weather forecast for tomorrow: snow. I am hoping it won't come to pass.

Arachnid Appreciation:
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Peep

Springtime and sunshine have been in short supply for the last few days, but today a charming sign of spring greeted me when I walked out the back door: peepers. Somewhere in the vicinity there must be some water that I don't know about, because the air was alive with the songs of tiny frogs today. It was a pleasure to hear.

I am glad for the wonderful sounds of spring, because there wasn't a lot to see, but I did find this vernal cue:

 Sap running in a cedar tree. This tree is full of tiny holes from woodpeckers (I assume).

There were not a lot of insects around today, just a few flies. This one was not enjoying the weather:

 Today was sunny, but windy. This fly's wings were being blown askew quite a bit.

Arachnid Appreciation:
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Jumping spider

Abloom

After our first two days of spring, winter came back for a while - just in temperatures, it didn't snow again. So when I looked at the weather sensor today and saw that it was 55ºF (though completely overcast) I thought it would be a great day to find bugs, and went out with my camera.

It was not a great day to find bugs. I saw three. Three flies, all in flight, so no pictures. But, I did see this:

 Suddenly, spring again! This was a beautiful surprise for me today. I have a funny feeling that I said the same thing about this same crocus (meaning, the flower from the same bulb, not this actual flower) last year. I didn't know that any of the crocuses, which are naturalized in my backyard, so they are in random spots–some in places I don't think I ever planted them–were blooming, so... tada! See this was a highlight of my day, and I had a good day, so that's saying something.

Inside crocuses is sometimes a good place to find bugs, but that was not the case today. Alas.

I did find a spider in the mailbox (and no mail, but it was a tiny spider, so it can't be that the spider scared away the mailman), but it was not in a photographable spot.

Melted Expectations

Today was a GLORIOUS spring day! The snow melted away in the backyard so fast that I think it I had sat there all afternoon I could have seen it melting. I know that over the course of an our between looking out the window and going outside to do my bug walk, there was a visible difference in the amount of snow on the ground. And when I went out I was able to wear my gardening clogs, and hardly had to walk through any snow at all, and where I did walk through snow, it wasn't enough to get inside my clogs. So between the fact that the temperature came close to 60ºF, and the exposure of so much more ground and leaf litter, I was expecting to find a LOT of bugs today. After all, I saw a lot of bugs yesterday, which was not as warm and had a lot more snow cover. I was even hoping that I would see things other than the same-old, same-old I have been seeing, and decided not to bother taking pictures of the usual things. And... there weren't that many bugs around today. Hardly anything flying around, and just not much to see (except spiders, but we'll get to that).

Fortunately, when I got home this evening there was something interesting on the porch that was not a new find for me overall, but new for the season. So, Backyard Bug of the Day:

 Wasp

I did find a LOT of winter fireflies today. And they were more active than usual.

 I found another firefly that looks a lot like a winter firefly (well, they all do, really), but a lot smaller, and with slightly different coloring on its pronotum. Of course, I realize that saying it's smaller, and showing you this picture, means nothing.

So, how about this picture?

I guess this only helps if you can find the insects...

The one on the left is the small one (but you knew that).

Winter firefly side view

 I also found a twice-stabbed lady beetle. It was in a hurry, climbing up a tree trunk.

 And that was all the insects I got pictures of. Now, on to the spiders for Arachnid Appreciation:
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 I think this is a bowl and doily spider.

And these are only the ones I got pictures of. There were others. It amuses me to think that the reason I couldn't find many insects is because all the spiders ate them all, but really, there aren't THAT many spiders.

It's SPRING!

Happy First Day of Spring!

Meteorological spring. In the northern hemisphere. And I realize that as you're reading this, it's actually the second day of spring, because I am writing this about the first day of spring at the end of that day. Also, there's still quite a lot of snow on the ground. And it's really quite meaningless, really, the first day of spring, because the weather won't suddenly change as a result of the earth's position relative to the sun (although it was quite a beautiful day. Close to 50ºF). And I should possibly just refer to it as the Vernal Equinox.

Anyway, Happy Spring!

 There will be daffodils. Eventually.

I saw a lot of insects today. Most of them were in flight, so I didn't get pictures of them, and a lot of them were just terribly uncooperative. And there wasn't anything that I haven't been seeing on and off for the last month. But it was a beautiful day, and SPRING!

I haven't chosen a Backyard Bug of the Day, but here's what I found:

 One excessively uncooperative springtail (SPRING!)

 A few winter fireflies (even though it's SPRING!)

 A cocoon. Which reminds me, there was an egg mass of a white-marked tussock moth on a tree, and I have been checking on it all winter, and today, it was gone. I don't know if something ate it, or if it somehow got knocked of the tree, or what. I am pretty disappointed. It made it through the whole winter, and now, it's gone.

 Wasp

 Candy-striped leaf hopper

Fly. There were quite a few flies around today (and gnats. And crane flies), but this was the only one that let me take its picture.

Arachnid Appreciation:
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A lot of the insects I saw today were flying low around the leaf litter, which made it the perfect place for a spider (which also probably spent the winter in the leaf litter):

 Jumping spider on a rock

Bugs on Snow

We had another snowstorm this past week, and though the temperature has been above freezing most days since then, the snow has stubbornly remained. I've been spotting bugs occasionally, on the windows, so today I decided to go out and have a look. I mostly was looking for snow fleas, which are a species of springtail. They can sometimes be seen on the surface of snow, but in my yard I have only ever seen them on the trunks of trees. So far this year I have not been able to find them anywhere. Today was no different.

I did find a Backyard Bug of the Day:

 I think it's a winter crane fly. I know those have been Backyard Bug of the Day before, but I think if you're an insect hanging around on snow, you deserve the honor. Most of the ground is covered with snow, but there are a couple of spots where it has melted to expose the leaf litter, and there were some birds that were digging through the leaf litter and tossing leaves around. I wonder if these insects were hanging out in the leaf litter, and the birds disturbed them.

 

 Anyway, I found two of these.

Then there were a couple of these on the grill cover:

I love fuzzy antennae.

But spring is coming...

Be On the Alert

I will begin today with a PSA:

 If it is warm enough for insects, it is warm enough for ticks. I found this one crawling on my neck when I came inside after my bug walk. So if you're spending time outside, and you're seeing bugs, be aware that you need to check for ticks.

Tomorrow all of this will be covered with snow again, according to the forecast...

Backyard Bug of the Day:

 I am not sure what this is. I thought it was a barklouse, but maybe it's an aphid. Or a hopper. I don't know.

 This wasp crashed right into me, and then dropped to the ground, which is where I took this picture.

 I think this is the same wasp, on the side of the house.

I found a couple of twice-stabbed ladybeetles:

I saw quite a few spiders in the backyard today, most of which were not photographable (webs and wind are not a good combination for photography), but I did get a couple. Arachnid Appreciation:
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 Here is the Backyard Bug of the Day where I first saw it - I watched it land here. So why is this in Arachnid Appreciation instead of up with the other picture of the BBotD? Because it has landed on a spider web. Look in the lower right-hand corner of the picture...

 ... and you'll see this spider. It didn't react to the BBotD landing on its web. It also didn't react to me getting close to it for a picture, which surprised me.

 Can you see the spider?

 Here is it on the other side of that twig, and a little closer.