Squelching

The backyard was very squishy today. The ground is frozen except for the top layer, because it has been warm, and that top layer is waterlogged because of rain and melting snow, so there's a lot of mud, and the grass squelches as I walk. And what I wonder is, what it is like for the bugs that burrow into the ground for the winter?

There were a few bugs out and about today, as the temperature reached the low 50s. I didn't choose a Backyard Bug of the Day, because nothing seemed interesting enough, but here's what was out there:

 I think that this birch catkin bug has been spending the winter in the hose reel box, because on nicer days when I have found them, that is usually where they are, on the box. They must crawl out when it's warm.

 I found a couple of winter crane flies bobbing about in the air. Can you see one here?

There is something amusing to me about the fact that the Bug Haters of the world get all gleeful about winter because it means that the bugs are all dead, when I now know that not only are the bugs NOT all dead, but some of them are still active in the winter, and some of the bugs that I see around in the winter are flies, which are the kind of bugs that the Bug Haters tend to be talking about when they are gloating about insects' winter demise. Haters gonna hate, fly, you just keep flying.

 The only springtails I saw today were a couple attracted to the porch light this evening.

 Along with this surprise visitor:

Arachnid Appreciation:
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