Climbing Trees

There are flowers blooming in my backyard, and that is always thrilling just because the flowers are beautiful and such a glorious aspect of springtime. But as a person who is interested in finding bugs, and has just been through the winter staring at tree trunks, flowers are a welcome sight because where there are flowers, there are usually bugs. Except... none of my flowers are attracting bugs. The creeping myrtle is blooming in the rock garden–just along the foundation of the house, where it's warmers–and on the rocks down by the street (also a warm spot), and I have yet to see any bugs in either location. I have been searching for pollinators on the blooms, but I have seen none so far. And now there are a couple of crocuses blooming:

 And by a couple I mean literally only two. Usually there will be insects inside the crocuses almost as soon as they bloom, bees, or even tiny gnats, but so far, nothing. So I have been wondering, where are all the pollinators? I saw a couple of bees almost a week ago, on the branch of a tree, so I thought there would be insects attracted to the flowers, but...

All of the bees I saw today, and there were quite a few, were on the trunks of trees:

Also on the trunks of trees, ants:

 This tree had a lot of them, two species, I think, but this was the only one at a level where I could get a picture. It was warm today, so they moved with great speed and energy.

And on another tree:

 Twice-stabbed lady beetles...

 Two couples.

Backyard Bug of the Day:

 I think this is a termite larva. I found it under a rotting piece of wood next to the garden fence.

 There were several more that looked like this. I don't know if this is a different insect, or a different stage, or what. I know next to nothing about termites. I don't mind them in such a place, but I don't want them in the house.

 Also under that board, a springtail.

So, all of the bugs today were on a tree trunk or on the ground:

 Flower fly

 Wait, an exception to the above observation. The candy striped leaf hoppers were not basking in the sun today, but hiding inside curled up leaves on their usual tree.

Even most of the spiders I saw today were on tree trunks. Arachnid Appreciation:
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And one in the rock garden: