Wintery Moths

Hello again. Yes, it's been a while. It's been cold, and I haven't seen any bugs interesting enough for me to post about them. Actually, I haven't seen many bugs lately at all, even on days in the 40s, or sunny days. Today as I was headed off into the woods to do some work I saw a mite crawling up a tree trunk, which was rather unexpected, so I put down my tools and went back into the house to get my camera, but by the time I got back to the tree the mite was out of sight. It was small–after all, it was a mite–but it was moving fast. Being bright red and moving is what made it visible to me in the first place, but I think it was going fast enough that in the time it took for me to go get the camera and get back to the tree, it crawled up too high for me to see it.

So, if I didn't get the picture of the mite, what am I posting about? I didn't do a bug walk after that, I put the camera back in the house and went back to my work. The only other insect I saw in the afternoon was a stonefly, and I've posted enough pictures of those lately. But then, in the early evening, as it was getting dark, my husband and I headed off for a walk in the woods. It got darker by the second, it seemed, but we had flashlights, so it didn't matter that night had fallen by the time we got back. And in the light of the flashlight I saw that there were insects active in the woods: moths. One of them landed right at my feet: Backyard Bug of the Day:

 I am cautiously naming this Backyard Bug of the Day, because I don't think this is a winter moth, based on the markings and other features of it; winter moth is an invasive species and I don't like making invasive species BBotD. So, on the assumption that this is a different species of moth, let's let it have that designation. However, the temperature had dropped into the 30s by the time we went on our walk, I think, so it was a bit surprising to see so many moths flitting about the dark woods.

Now, I am going to break a rule of the blog and post a picture from yesterday, just because I forgot to post it yesterday, being out of the habit of daily blogging now.

The bluebirds were back:

 I know you still can't see the blue, but at least you can see the bird in this picture. Actually, did I even blog about seeing the bluebirds a couple of weeks ago? I can't remember now. Anyway, here's the thing about bluebirds: you don't see them much in the winter, and they do migrate to an extent, but this area is part of their year-round territory–they'll stick around as long as they can stay warm, and find things to eat. Well, it has been a pretty mild winter so far, by Connecticut standards, and as you know from my other posts this month there are still bugs around for these insectivorious birds to eat so... we've met their criteria, and here they are. Well, here one is, but there were at least two that day. It made me very happy to see them.

A Fine, Januaryish Day

January has been acting pretty Januaryish this week, which it is perfectly within its rights to do, but the consequence is that I haven't really looked for bugs much, and when I have, I didn't find anything. Today was the first day this week that was above freezing, so I did look at the rocks out in front to see if there was anything there, and there wasn't. I was a little surprised, because I have seen snow fleas and winter ants there on colder days than this, but it may have to do with the fact that the last couple of days have stayed below freezing, and the nights have been frigid. Even though today warmed up a tidge, last night was a chiller. That may be why there was nothing active on the rocks, and I figured if there wasn't anything in the warmest, sunniest spot in the yard, there was no point in looking for bugs in the cooler, shadier spots. However, when I went for my walk in the woods, I did find one bug.

Backyard Bug of the Day:

Winter fireflies are active year round, but they are called winter fireflies because they are most noticeable in the winter. Well, and because they are the only fireflies active in the winter. Still, they don't come out when it's below freezing; they like sunny, milder days. Today was certainly sunny, though the woods, even without leaves on the trees, are always pretty shady, and it was above freezing, as I said, though I wouldn't have called it a mild day. And there is still snow covering the ground, albeit a thin blanket. However, this hardy beetle was out enjoying the afternoon, and I am in agreement with it that it was a fine day indeed to be outside. Sadly, I had only my phone, not my camera with its macro lens, so this is the best picture I could get.

How Low Can You Go?

I am now going to go back on one thing I said in my last post, and reiterate something else I said.

Today it was cold out.

 Here's the tiny bit of snow we got last night. Usually the sun would melt that away pretty fast, but it was so cold this morning that the snow, little as it was, lingered.

Last weekend the official high for my state was 70ºF (I don't think it got quite that high at my house). Well, today was like a completely different season; today the high was in the low 20s. Solidly below freezing. Not the kind of day I even consider doing a bug walk. However, curiosity is one of the hallmarks of my character, so when I went outside to get the mail, I couldn't resist checking out the rocks down near the street to see if the apricity and the microclimate were enough to coax some bugs into action for the day.

As it turns out, yes. Even on a day when the temperature is over ten degrees below freezing (it was 21ºF when I went outside), I was able to find some bugs. And they weren't just basking in a stupor in the sunshine, they were active, moving around, going about their tiny insect lives. And it wasn't just one, random outlier braving the cold, it was multitudes.

Of course, maybe this kind of behavior should be expected of a creature called a snow flea:

And maybe the same could be said about something called a winter ant, although from what I have read about them today should have been a bit too cold for them. And yet, there were a few wandering around on the rock. I put my hand on the rock to see how it felt, not sure if I was expecting it to feel warm or cold, and I would describe how it felt as cool. Not warm, but nothing like the frigid air. Obviously it was warm enough that for the insects crawling around on it it created a warm enough environment for them to be active on this freezing day.

And was we have long since discovered here on this blog, the bugs don't all go away just because it's winter. And yes, yes, I know, I said only a couple of days ago that I wasn't going to post if all I had to post was the same things over and over again, but this post wasn't really about the pictures. It was about the situation, showing that insect life goes on, even as the mercury goes down. Obviously there must be a low that is too low for them. But with enough sunshine, even temperatures below freezing aren't necessarily it.

Apricity Appreciation

Today was all about the apricity–the warmth of the winter sun–and microclimates. When I went outside to get the mail there were a couple of flies basking in the sunshine on the side of the house, enjoying the apricity, and when I moved closer to look at them, I could actually feel the heat reflecting back at me. There was a sharp difference in temperature right near the house, compared to how it felt a few feet farther away. It was the same with the bedrock down near the street; in full sun, the rocks are very warm, and the area in front of them was a toasty little microclimate. Most of the rest of the yard, though, was noticeably cooler, and it's not even like there's much shade at this time of the year to make the woods cooler.

I found a fair number of bugs, although nothing that I haven't seen lately. I have been thinking that the way I might approach the blog from now on is only to post if I find something new and interesting, or at the very least to not just post the same bugs every day, but for now I just want to show how much I saw today with the temperatures in the upper 40s. It was almost as many different kinds of bugs as I saw over the weekend when it was in the 60s, and I saw some bugs today that I didn't see then (but didn't get photos of, so I can't even show those). I don't have a Backyard Bug of the Day, because there was nothing that noteworthy, but here are some bugs for your enjoyment:

 Winter ant. The black blur a little below it in the picture is a snow flea.

More springtails:

This one kept curling and uncurling its antennae:

 

Lately I have not been finding springtails on the one rock where they used to always be when there was a puddle, but today they were back:

 

 It was a warm enough day for a few candy striped leaf hoppers to be out, but nowhere near the numbers of the weekend, and today the were all on the leaves, instead of the branches.

 Stonefly

 This woolly bear was on the move today, but very slowly.

Arachnid Appreciation:
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When the sunshine is at the right angle you can see spider threads glimmering all over the backyard, so I know that spiders have been active lately. Today I found one:

Winter Warmth

The Thaw continued today, warmer and NOT raining–fully sunshiny, in fact–so I was able to do a bug walk. Here's what I found:

Backyard Bug of the Day:

 Some kind of Hemiptera nymph.

Other Bugs:

 Another Hemiptera, a plant bug, I think.

And a whole lot more Hemiptera:

 The candy striped leaf hoppers were out in great numbers today. I didn't get good pictures, because it was also really windy, and since there are still leaves on their tree, it really swayed in the wind, and they are too skittish to stick around if I try to steady the branch with my hand. But there are about a dozen in this shot, and there were at least this many more on the other end of this branch. And even more all over the tree. What was most interesting about them is that they were flying around a lot. I rarely see these fly at all. Being leaf hoppers, they tend to hop away if I disturb them, or just scoot around to the other side of their leaf or stem. But they were flying all over the tree. There is another tree of the same species near this one that is never as popular with the leaf hoppers, but they were out on that tree, too.

So much for that order, now a couple of representatives of the order Coleoptera:

 

 Twice-stabbed lady beetle

 

 Winter firefly. I looked for these yesterday and today; I didn't find any yesterday, and today I only found this one. I was surprised, because this is their kind of weather.

I saw a few winter ants:

 I didn't notice until I looked at this picture for about the third time on the computer, but there are snow fleas all over that rock.

 They were also all over this tree.

Springtails

I saw other bugs, too, that I couldn't get photos of, including mostly flies. And I was surprised not to see more, to be honest. No winter crane flies. I couldn't find the woolly bear caterpillar again. I was hoping to be surprised by something, but I wasn't.

Arachnid Appreciation:
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Tiny jumping spider

Temporary Springtime

Today was my second favorite season during the year: January thaw. Most years there will be a period of a day or two in January when the temperature goes up into the 60s, and it feels like spring, and since spring is my favorite season, I love this. You know who else enjoys this? Bugs. Or so I assume, because they come out of their winter hiding places for it. Not all of them, obviously, but there are usually some unseasonable insects around for those days. Unfortunately, I didn't get a chance to do a regular bug walk today, but I did see quite a few bugs while I was off in the woods. I also saw bluebirds, which I love, and which eat insects. They must love January thaw, too.

Backyard Bug of the Day:

 Woolly bear caterpillar, aka Isabella tiger moth caterpillar. Woolly bears overwinter as caterpillars, obviously, and pupate in the spring, and sometimes on nice days they go out for a walk. I don't know why they don't just stay in the place they had been sheltering, but for whatever reason, on warmer winter days they are out and about.

Another bug that likes to come out when it's warm enough:

 Candy striped leaf hoppers on their favorite tree. I actually went to this tree to look for them today, because I knew I would find them there.

 Out in the woods there were a lot of springtail exuvia (shed exoskeletons from molting) on the surface of the streams, but unlike last time I saw this, not very many actual springtails. You can see a few of them here among the exuvia (which are the white things).

I also saw snow fleas, which I was surprised to see only on the shady side of trees today, and quite a few stoneflies. I saw a stinkbug, and a few moths flying around. And I saw a number of bugs flying by or skittering across the leaf litter. Today it was 60ºF, and tomorrow is supposed to be warmer, but it is also supposed to rain tomorrow, so I might not get to do a bug walk then. And then by Monday the thaw will be over, and I will go back to longing for spring.

Arachnid Appreciation:
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I saw several spiders today, including this one, the only one I got a picture of, on the bridge we were building across a stream in our woods. I actually saw several spiders yesterday when I was cutting brush in the woods, and yesterday was only in the 40s.

Winter Is Alive

I did my bug walk today in our new woods, because that's where I wanted to be, and when I headed off on my walk I found bugs, so I went back to get my camera. I wanted to walk in the woods because it snowed last night, and though the temperature had warmed up (still in the 30s, though),by the time I went out, and last night's snow had mostly melted in the morning sunshine, it did actually start snowing again while I was out there. So it wasn't exactly the kind of day you would expect to find bugs. And yet, they were out there. And they were active, too, moving around, flying away (some of them). I used to hate winter, in part because it seemed like the world was dead for those frigid months. Then I learned that it was all just dormant. And yet... it's not all dormant. Life goes on out in the cold, even insect life, you just have to be looking for it.

 Small, so small I'd never have noticed if there was only one, but this tree was covered in snow fleas, a species of springtail.

 Obviously, these spring, but they don't fly. When I mentioned insects flying, I meant...

 ... stoneflies. I saw several of them on my walk.

And I saw a few of these springtails, too. But since that day when I saw masses of them on the various water sources in the woods, they have been scarce.

A New Year of Bugs

Oops. I've gotten out of the habit of writing a blog every day and forgot that I did a bug walk today. It was above freezing, not raining, slightly sunny, and I saw a crane fly on the window, so I figured I should go out and look for bugs. I was moderately successful, which is a good thing. And by the way, Happy New Year!

Backyard Bug of the Day:

 The first Backyard Bug of the Day of the new year is a stonefly.

 I never did figure out what these larvae (or nymphs?) that were hanging out in a patch of moss last winter were. I still don't know, but I found them again today.

I also saw three species of springtails:

Snow fleas

Other Bugs:

 Winter crane fly

Fly