Springing in the Fall

Today my backyard was suddenly overrun by some of the most amusing arthropods. I say overrun, because there were so many of them, and they were everywhere, but if you're not like me, scrutinizing tree trunks, leaf litter, and the surface of puddles, you could very well walk around my entire backyard and not be aware of the tiny horde. They were many, but they are small.

Backyard Bug of the Day:

 Springtails! In assorted sizes. I have no idea why they hang out on the surface of puddles, but it is fun to watch them bounce off of each other. I don't even know what they do when it hasn't just rained, and there are no puddles. Do they get excited when it rains? "Yay, we can go skating!"Strange little creatures. And I am still not clear on whether they are considered insects or not. Different sources say different things.

 I also don't know why the big one kept climbing on top of the middle-sized ones. And I don't know how or why they zoom together, and then spring apart. I found these on the surface of a puddle on a rock.

   Those really little ones were so small that I could not see them with my eyes alone, only by looking through the camera lens.

 

Then when I went into the woods, I noticed that some of the leaves had little puddles of water on them, and those puddles...

 ... had springtails on them!

Then I went and looked at the tree where I often see candy striped leaf hoppers. I didn't find any leaf hoppers, but...

 ... there were springtails all over the leaves.

I also saw springtails on almost every tree trunk. They were everywhere.

 There were fewer ants around today.

 In an attempt to find bugs that were not springtails, I turned over a rotting log. Underneath I found:

 Not an insect.

A lot of bristletails:

 

 

 

 And some kind of eggs. I assume insect, but I guess they could be some kind of amphibian. Or do all amphibians lay their eggs in water? They are kind of large for insect eggs.

Public Service Announcement: If it's warm enough to find bugs of any kind outside it's warm enough to find ticks. They don't die when the frost comes, and any day above freezing you could get one attached to you. This is why I am still wearing my tick repellent pants when I do my bug walk. 

 

 Before today, I had not seen a tick since early spring (except attached to the necks of rabbits). Today I found six of them on some tall grass in front of my house.

Arachnid Appreciation:

 

 I think this spider is feeding on a springtail.

There was a mite under the rotting log, too.