Springtail Weather

Today was a little bit warmer, and soggy from a little bit of overnight rain, and the result was that there were springtails EVERYWHERE in my backyard:

On rocks, on trees, on lawn furniture... The only place I did not see them was on the surface of puddles, though I did look for them there, because it is usually a good place to find them.

I didn't even see this one when I took the picture. I was taking a picture of the berries, and saw the tiny critter when I looked at the shot on the computer.

The package bin was covered with springtails.

I'm not sure, but I think this is another species of springtail.

Backyard Bug of the Day:

I think this is a moth fly. Which is a moth, not a fly. Very small. I found it walking around on the hood of the car.

Also on the hood of the car: a midge.

It wasn't sunny (quite overcast, in fact), but one candy striped leaf hopper was out on what I have come to think of as the leaf hopper tree.

Sow bugs also like soggy weather.

The weather was warm enough for the winter ants to be out again. I saw them in a few places in the backyard today, not in groups, just individual ants. I saw them on trees...

... on the chrysanthemums, and on leaf litter.

This winter firefly is still in the same spot where it has been for weeks, but it has changed positions a couple of times in the last few days.

I saw winter crane flies through my windows, but I didn't find any on my bug walk.

Soggy woolly bear caterpillar. I am not sure it was still alive.

Not an insect, or even an arthropod:

 I found a couple of baby slugs today. I did not expect slugs when it has been so cold lately.

Second to the springtails in abundance today (a DISTANT second) were the spiders. I found multiple species. Arachnid Appreciation:

I happened to disturb some kind of tussle between these two spiders. I kicked aside a leaf while trying to get a better vantage point for another picture, and saw these two tumbling together. It happened very fast, and then this was the aftermath by the time I could bend down to see. They were both alive, I think, but kind of sluggish. I don't know if this was a fight, and attempt by one to eat the other, or a courtship attempt gone awry.

I came back later to check on them and this one was gone, but the other one was still there. It would move its legs if I prodded it with a stick, but I don't think it was well.

Mite

I have a few spider ornaments for my Christmas tree that I made after reading about the folktale (Ukrainian?) about the Christmas spiders who decorate a tree with their silk threads. Well, I was decorating our tree today and found that it came with a real, live Christmas spider!