Autumn Snow

 Alas, my poor chrysanthemums.

We had our first snow of the season today, that season still being autumn. It's not common to have snow in October, that's for sure, but it's not unheard of. It snowed pretty much all day today, so obviously I did not do a bug walk. But I had my camera outside to take the picture above of my poor chrysanthemum, which does not appear destined to bloom this year, and I had a look around...

I checked the leaves on the back porch tree to see what, if anything, the aphids had done due to the freezing weather. It wasn't so much the snow that made me curious, in that I don't think they are bothered by precipitation. But the temperature was right around the freezing mark all day. It's hard to say if the aphids were affected, but they were still there, even the ones with wings that could have flown off to try to find better shelter.

Thinking of insects who could find better shelter, I decided to check on the large milkweed bugs, because I had been speculating earlier in the week that if it snowed, meaning that the temperature was below freezing, they would huddle up inside the milkweed pods. I did not expect to see any outside the shelter of the pods.

And yet:

There was one nymph clinging to a seed, and if you look at the top of the picture, the black you see is the back end of an adult that was active enough to crawl out of the picture before I could get a better shot of it. Probably there were more of them inside the pod. But at least these two were out braving the weather.

I looked around a little bit, but did not find anymore bugs. Later in the afternoon, though, as the snow was waning and the sun contemplated coming out, but it was still freezing cold, I was looking out the skylight and saw what I think were a couple of very small insects flying by. On a day when there was no reason to expect to find bugs outside, there they were.

They are remarkably resilient. Tougher than I am, that's for sure.

Chill

 Another day when I did not expect to do a bug walk, because it was raining, and when I went out after the rain stopped figured that it was pointless to do so, because it was cold, and yet, I found a lot of bugs. A LOT. Most of them were the same kind, but we'll get to that in a minute...

Backyard Co-Bug of the Day #1:

Wasp, I think a species of Ichneumon. You wouldn't know it from reading this blog, but I do see these from time to time. They just never want to sit still for pictures. The cold seems to have temporarily made this one cooperative, but it did ultimately fly away before I finished getting the shots I wanted.

Now, back to the other issue... It was raining this morning when I woke up, and though the forecast did say it would only rain in the morning, around noon it was still going, and I just assumed it would keep up all day. No bug walk, I figured. But it did stop, and I figured I might as well go out and look for bugs, but it had just barely reached 50ºF, and just stopped raining, so I didn't think I would be able to find any bugs. This would definitely be a time for a bug to curl up in whatever cozy shelter it found before the cold rain started to wait until nicer weather (which, by the way, will not be around for a while, but I digress).

So, out I went, and right by the pack porch steps is a rock with a bit of a dip in it that had a small puddle in it. For some reason, even though I have not seen any in a while, months, even, I decided to check the surface of the puddle for springtails. And that is where I found Backyard Co-Bugs of the Day #2 and #3:

Two species of springtails. Only one of them is obvious, I am sure, but there is a second species, and there are actually two individuals of that species in the picture. The blurry orange dot just above the back leg of the bigger springtail is a nymph,  and there's another nymph in the upper right corner.

A better look at the nymph in the upper right.

Springtails were aaaaaaaall over the place today. A couple more on that little puddle:

On dead flowers:

I have sometimes read that springtails are insects, and sometimes that they are not; something I read today said it has been decided that they are not, but it did not elaborate on what it is about them that makes them not insects. They are arthropods, though, and by the loose definition I use for bugs in terms of choosing Backyard Bug of the Day they still qualify. They like wet weather like today, and particularly cool, wet weather. They are going to love the next few days (but maybe not the snow that we might get. On the other hand, snow fleas are springtails, and they don't mind the snow, so some of the springtails will even like that. I didn't see any snowfleas today).

You'll have to look closely for this one. I wasn't trying to take a picture of the springtail, I was trying to take a picture of the dead flower. Springtails are decomposers, meaning they feed on dead plant matter, so a dead flower is a meal to them.

There were more on rocks:

On trees:

And on leaves... everywhere. I have often wondered where they are all of the rest of the time that I don't see them.

Other Bugs:

The cricket songs have much diminished of late, so if this female bush cricket is still looking to find a mate she is going to have a hard time of it.

Candy striped leaf hopper on a pretty, pink viburnum leaf

The cold weather makes bees sluggish, if they can be found at all. This poor bee seems to have been caught by the rain, with drops on his head and back end, and a big one right on its back.

Forgetfulness

 I spent a long time on my bug walk today, but I can't really remember it. I'm so distracted lately. I've lost my sense of time. I do remember that I almost forgot to cover a whole quadrant of my yard on my walk. I was about to walk back in the door when I remembered that I had a whole section still to cover. I almost decided not to do it, because I doubted there would be much to see, but I have too much blogger integrity, I guess, so I finished the walk, and that section of it is where I found today's Backyard Bug of the Day:

Leafhopper. I think this is a new species for me. The moral of the story here is something to do with finishing the walk even though I didn't really feel like it. I don't know why I didn't want to do it; I enjoy being outside (even in bleak weather like we had today), and it's not like I was going to finish my walk and say, "Ugh. I regret doing that." It's this depressing, discouraging year talking. And the bleak weather. I would be happier about this find if this bug had been more cooperative, or really cooperative at all. You're probably thinking it was fine, because I got this picture, but you haven't seen the other twenty-five blurry shots I took. If this wasn't a new bug for me I would not have put forth such an effort, I can assure you. And now I am babbling, and not about anything remotely interesting regarding this bug. To make up for it, I just tried looking up the name of this bug, and I didn't find it, so... 

Other Bugs:

Crane fly. I posted one of these yesterday, and I probably should have made it Backyard Bug of the Day then, because I think it is a new species for me. I can't be sure, though. After all these years of studying the bugs in my backyard, it's impossible to remember everything I have seen, and differentiate between a lot of very similar things. There are a number of species of crane flies. (Also, I could be wrong about the leaf hopper above being a new species for me. But we're going with that idea because it makes me feel better).

More aphids with wings today. Much maligned, but fascinating and cute.

Leafhopper or planthopper

There were a few more march flies around today, but so far all of the ones I have seen have been male.

Large milkweed bugs have been scarce the last couple of days, I think I only saw one each day, but today was a little bit warmer, so this bunch was out on the seed pod. I suspect that when it was cold the last couple of days they were huddled up inside the pod with all the fluff. 

These two are still in just about the same place they were yesterday; the bee is underneath the same flower, and the caterpillar has just moved down the stem of the plant–you can see the leaf above that it has eaten about half of.

The bee had shifted a bit, so I could get a better shot of it today.

A couple of rove beetles:

Beetle

A case moth caterpillar on autumn joy sedum instead of goldenrod

The pretty leaf beetle comes and goes, always on the same tree trunk.
 

Spiders have been scarce lately, with so little to feature in Arachnid Appreciation:

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

Jumping spider.

Playing Pretend

 I didn't have a lot of time for a bug walk today, because I had an appointment this afternoon, but I figured it wouldn't matter because I didn't expect to find anything. For quite a while it was looking like that was going to hold true, as I made my way through the first two quadrants of my backyard paths (I have mentally divided my backyard into quadrants) without seeing much. Then, suddenly, there were bugs. I almost didn't make it to my appointment on time. Sometimes I am happy to be wrong. 

Backyard Bug of the Day:

Looper caterpillar, pretending to be a twig. It was a pretty convincing impression.

Lately I have been outside on many evenings and have come to the conclusion that there is not a bird that shelters under the nest on the wreath on the front porch every night. But it was there tonight. And this time it completely ignored me when I went out with my camera to get a picture of it. It did not poke its head out, and it did not fly away. It just stayed tucked up underneath the nest:

I got quite close to it. No reaction. I don't even know if it knew I was there; it certainly did not appear to.

Other Bugs:

Two years ago I planted some perennial mums so that I could have late-blooming flowers, but not have to plant new ones every year, because I am lazy and hate gardening. The problem is, they are too-late-blooming. The flowers haven't opened yet. Last year they had not quite fully bloomed when the first hard frost hit, and it looks like that's going to happen again this year. The flowers aren't open yet, and later this week we're expecting overnight temperature in the mid-20s. I am frustrated and annoyed about this. I will try covering the plants to protect them, but I don't know how low the temperature can go and still have that work. For now, this aphid has camped out on this flower stem. If an insect feeds on the fluids in a plant other than nectar, it doesn't matter to them if the flower is in bloom or not.

That is definitely the opinion of these plant bugs, which are suddenly everywhere. I am not sure if this year is the first time I have seen them, but it is certainly the first time they have been so abundant:

The plant bug was not alone on this goldenrod. Can you see the other insect? I think there were actually two case moth caterpillars (only one is shown in this picture), but it's sometimes hard to tell.

I found them on a variety of plants, not just the goldenrod where I have been seeing them quite a bit lately:

The bees and wasps have abandoned this aster, but the plant bugs don't care that the flowers have past their bloom.

I think a winged ant

Crane fly

An good view of a large milkweed bug's proboscis.

 A two-fer–a caterpillar and a bee on the same plant:

Wasp. Or bee?

Still a few candy striped leaf hoppers on the last leaf, and the catkins, of this black birch branch.

More ants have arrived to attend to the aphids on the back porch tree:

There are a few more with wings, too.

March, October, Whatever

 I don't know why this didn't publish last night...

  The day looked somber today as I went out for my bug walk, and it affected my mood. As often happens lately, I had trouble finding any bugs, but today I really couldn't blame them; the temperature was much lower than in has been the last few days, and with so few things in bloom, I pictured all of the insects curled up in little beds somewhere, opening their eyes and looking at the kind of day it was, and saying, "It's too cold, and there's nothing to eat, why bother even getting up?" Having anthropomorphized all of the insects this way, I began to think about how many people probably say that at some point every winter. And how many more are going to say it this winter, when a global pandemic has made it hard for people to buy food, and pay for heat, or even afford a place to live, and has been such a burden on people's mental health as well as financial security. For some people it is too cold to get out of bed if there isn't even anything to eat, especially if their struggle has brought on a depression. The pandemic hasn't just brought a deadly virus, it has hurt people in a great many other ways. This has nothing to do with bugs, of course, and I don't even know what point I am trying to make, except to say that we need compassion more than ever right now. If you know of someone who is struggling, and you have the means to help them, please do.

Backyard Bug of the Day:

March fly. Male. If this turns out to be a normal year, and frankly, there is no reason to suppose it will be, at some point I will be able to post male and female photos showing the sexual dimorphism of these flies. It's pretty easy to tell the difference between females and males when you see both of them.

March flies are very specifically seasonal insects; they're not just hanging around for months. I have always seen them for a couple of months in late October or early November, but I have read that in some places they have two generations per year, and so they will be seen for short time in the spring and again for a short time in the autumn.

Soon hopefully there will be literal swarms of these in my backyard. Today I found two.

 Other Bugs:

Aphid

Having been thinking such somber and gloomy thoughts about the coming winter, it seemed almost comical to find a couple of winter fireflies on a tree:

Of course, winter fireflies aren't just active in winter. And despite their name, they won't come out if it's really cold.

Of course, the lack of flowers in bloom is really only a problem if you eat nectar and/or pollen. Flowers that have gone to seed are still a source of food for some insects:

The case moth caterpillars aren't just using the goldenrod fluff for adornment, they are also feeding on the plants.

I posted a picture yesterday of candy striped leaf hoppers on a few leaves of this black birch branch. Today there was only one leaf left on the branch, along with a couple of catkins ready for next spring. There's a few candy striped leaf hoppers, too.

Meanwhile, on a leaf on the back porch tree:

There haven't been any for the last couple of days, but today the ants finally showed up among the aphids.