Nestling

 We don't use the front door very much these days, because when we go our for our walks we go out the back door, and we don't really go much of anywhere else. But the front porch the last few months has been frequented by another creature that probably appreciates the fact that we are hardly ever there:

Possibly a carolina wren, this bird likes to spend the cold nights in and around the robins' nest on the grapevine wreath on the wall of the porch. It used to huddle under the nest, or nestle in between the wreath and the wall. The last few times I have seen it it has been sitting in the nest or on the edge of it. I forgot to go out and get the mail today, so I went out during the late evening to get it, and happened to see this little face watching me over the edge of the nest.

It snowed a little bit today, and I went for my woods walk just as it was beginning to stick. Out of habit I did look for bugs, specifically, I looked on beech tree trunks for stoneflies, and didn't see any there. Then as I was walking, I happened to see something land on a snow-covered rock. Backyard Bug of the Day:

I think it's a midge. What it was doing flying around on a snowy day like today I don't know.

All-Season Threat

 This post is a Public Service Announcement. I just want to remind you that while you may think that because it's winter you don't have to worry about ticks, that is not the case. Our last few nights have been below freezing, the ponds in the woods have ice on them, today the high was 42ºF, we had some snow flurries, and I found this on my work glove after working out in the woods:

This is why I still wear my tick-repellent pants in the woods in the winter. This is why you need to keep vigilant about ticks in every season.

In The Cold, Dark Woods

 We had a tiny bit of snow this morning, but it didn't last, as the temperature was above freezing and the sun appeared occasionally to melt what had fallen. When I went out to get the mail, I happened to see something I wanted to photograph, so I went inside and got my camera.

Nothing momentous, just some drops of water on moss. I think moss is pretty, and I think drops of water are pretty, so drops of water on moss were worth a trip back out with my camera. After I took the pictures of water drops on moss I wondered about what might be living down deep in the mossy patch, but I didn't see anything, and I didn't want to disrupt it by digging into it, particularly because I had no reason to think I would find anything. There is a patch of moss on a rock in the backyard where I have sometimes found incredibly tiny somethings, but I have not seen them anywhere else, and this moss by the front steps was thick. I briefly considered doing a bug walk, as I have the last few days, but it was really cold, just in the mid 30s, and even before my blogging sabbatical I would not bother to go out looking for bugs when the temperature was so close to freezing. So, I went in the house with just my droplets-on-moss pictures.

I went on my woods walk later, in the space of time where late afternoon meets evening, and darkness fell while I was in the woods. By then it was below freezing; I checked the weather sensor and it said 29.7ºF when I went out. So, the last thing I expected to find was insects, but looking for them is a habit, so I checked the tree trunks as I passed them, mostly the beeches, because they have such smooth bark there is nowhere for bugs to hide, so it is easier to see them there than on a tree with rougher bark like an oak. 

I am sure you know where this is going. I found insects. In fact, I found a lot of them. I would say that at least a third of the beech trees (and there are a lot of beech trees) had stoneflies on them. And they were active, too, crawling around on the trunks, not frozen into a stupor. I know they are winter bugs, but still, when the temperature drops below freezing I don't expect to see them. 

They've been Backyard Bug of the Day before, so I am not going to call them that today, but here they are, only a few of the many I saw (including more than a dozen on one tree):

 

Also, and ugh, I should NOT be sharing this picture, because it's so awful, but it was such a surprise to see this tonight:

Another little caterpillar. This one definitely was feeling sluggish from the cold. It was moving, but very, very slowly.

Sigh... I used to be proud of the photography on this blog. Now it's all blurry cellphone photos taken by flashlight...

The one place I did expect to see insects tonight was in the stream. It's not frozen–yet–and there've been insects there almost every night for... well, months, I guess. I was surprised at how many I saw, though. Over a dozen beetles, and multiple caddisfly larvae, in different pools up the stream:

Here's a beetle and a caddisfly larva together. I had to wait for this shot, for the beetle to come within the same space as the caddisfly larva.

Here you can just see the larva's head sticking out.

There's a beetle and a caddisfly larva close together here, too, but you can't see the beetle because it scurried under the leaf.

Two caddisfly larvae that I think are different species because their cases are made of different materials:

Plant matter on the left, sand on the right.

I took a little video of the caddisfly larvae, so you could see them move:

 

Who knew, that on cold, dark nights in the woods, there was so much insect activity?

Arachnid Appreciation:

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This was too high up the tree for me to get closer. A different species from the spider I saw a couple of nights ago. It was dangling from its thread up there.

Nocturnal and Aquatic

 Even if I only have my phone with my to take pictures, it would be a lot easier for me if I could find bugs on my walks during daylight hours, but no, I only see them at night, when I am walking by flashlight. I have begun to think that the water beetles and caddisfly larva are nocturnal, or at least more active at night, but the only bugs I saw on my daylight hike today were a couple of crane flies. On my night hike I saw, in addition to the possibly-nocturnal aquatic insects, a stonefly (wait, now that I think about it, I think I did see one of those during the day), a springtail (oh, also saw those during the day, but not in places I could take pictures. And a different species than the one I saw at night), and...

Backyard Bug of the Day:

Tiny caterpillar, a looper, climbing up the trunk of a tree. Certainly not a common sight in January, even on a day in the 40s (though it was down into the 30s when I spotted this), but not unprecedented. And this has been quite a mild winter so far.

The water level was down a bit in the stream today, and it was not flowing as strong, which made it a little easier to look for aquatic insects, but I only found them in one pool (the same one from yesterday). Today there were a lot of beetles, and a couple of caddisfly larvae:

This caddisfly larva had an interesting case, with what looked like part of a second case attached to the side of it.

Beetle AND caddisfly larva in the same shot! I know you can see the beetle, can you find the caddisfly larva?

The larva's head is poking out...

And again...

And again...

Arachnid Appreciation:

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This was a busy tree trunk–I saw this spider, and then the springtail (didn't get a usable picture), then the stonefly (ditto). This is the tree where I have seen stoneflies on other walks lately.

Peekaboo Bug

 Hi again, I'm still on break, and still obsessing about finding bugs in the stream. We had a lot of rain last night, so the stream was gushing today–it actually shifted onto our walking path near one of the bridges and we had to re-engineer it back into its bed by removing some branches and leaves that were damming it up. The turbulence made it hard to see bugs during the day when it was light out, but once again I finished my walk after dark had fallen (I was out in the woods for a long time today), and one part of the stream that is wider and without rocks to create riffles was calm enough on the surface for me to be able to see underwater with my flashlight. I saw water beetles and two caddisfly larvae. It can be tricky to tell if you are seeing a caddisfly larva or just a bit of a stick or other debris on the bottom of the stream, except that caddisfly larvae move very differently than bits of debris carried by the current. Specifically, they can move against the current. If you see a twig crawling upstream, you've found a caddisfly larva. 

They still don't photograph well, though, with only a phone camera, but I did my best. 

Okay, I know what you're thinking: "THAT'S your best?" Well, no. But I will tell you that there are two caddisfly larvae in this picture. Also that though I did not capture these two to look at more closely like I did with the ones I found the other day, I think these might have cases made of a different material from those. They are a different color, and look more like they are made of sticks or rolled leaves instead of sand. Now, I did read somewhere that they start out with cases made of rolled leave and add the sand to the outside, so maybe these two will do that. I don't know. 

So, why am I showing you pictures that you can't even tell what's in them? Well, right in the middle of this one is a caddisfly larva. And in this one, the larva is poking its head and front legs out of its case. I think you can see that...

This may be the best I ever get of a shot with the head poking out, while underwater, so here it is. Notice that there is some sparkliness of sand in this part of the stream, so they could put sand on their cases if they wanted to (or rather, if that is what species they are). Mostly I am just glad that while crouching on the edge of the stream in the dark, cell phone in one hand, flashlight in the other, I didn't drop either one of those things in the stream, or fall in myself. Some days you just have to feel good about the small accomplishments.

Building Bugs

 I haven't done an actual bug walk in months, and today I did two of them. I didn't walk around my traditional backyard route, I took my camera into the woods. Recently most of my walks in the woods have been by flashlight–the days are short and I rarely get a chance to go for my walk at a time that is early enough that I can go out and come back before it gets dark. I have found that after dark is the best time to look for bugs in the stream, as I think I have mentioned before, because it is easier to see under the surface while using a flashlight as a spotlight than during the day when the light often reflects off the surface of the water and obscures what's underneath. Maybe that doesn't make sense, but next time you're out on a hike and there is a stream, and it's not in the shade, you can see what I'm up against. I am not explaining this well...

Anyway, last night on my hike I happened to see some bugs (besides the ones in the stream), and today decided to take my camera out into the woods in the hopes of being able to find them again. It is by no means a sure thing that you can find bugs in the same place a day later, but it happens enough with at least some species, and under some conditions, that I thought it was worthwhile doing a bug walk. But even though that walk came first, I think I will come back to that story, because I got pictures of today's Backyard Bug of the Day on my second walk, which was after dark.

Backyard Bug of the Day:

Caddisfly larva. That is my husband's hand, by the way, holding the larval case.

Caddisfly larvae, as I have mentioned before, make themselves little homes to hide out in for protection. Different species use different materials, I think. I found several today that made their cases out of grains of sand, which they bind together with silk. This one is out of the water; I caught two of them (you can actually see the other one in the lower section of the picture) and put them on the bridge so I could take pictures, because it is very difficult to take pictures of them in the water. The water was about 34ºF the other night when we brought a temperature sensor out with us to check it, and I imagine it was about that tonight, by the way. Quite chilly for putting my hand in.

I did manage some underwater shots, though, with a couple of others that were very close to the stream bank, though not with great success:

I didn't notice until just now, looking at this picture, but there are two here–you can just see one off to the right edge of the picture.

It's hard to focus on something underwater, especially running water, but if you look closely you can see this one's body coming out of the case.

Another underwater shot, which I think shows how pretty the case is. Strange people have made jewelry by putting caddisfly larvae in tanks with gemstones and having the larvae make gemstone cases. I hope they wait until the larvae have finished with them before they take them for themselves.

These two you can just barely see the larva emerging from the case:

Now, I have just remembered that I had a caddisfly larva as Backyard Bug of the Day almost two weeks ago, on January 2nd, and since it's this same year, and this same season, technically, I should not have repeated it. Especially since I have barely blogged at all for months. But... my blog, my rules, and I'll break them if I feel like it. Obviously, if you check that last post, these pictures are MUCH better (though I would still like to get better ones...), so, in the interest of showing these interesting insects off better, I am breaking the rules. I guess I am not off to a very good start on the year. So, to make up for it, I am now going to make another bug Backyard Co-Bug of the Day. And I have to say, it's pretty impressive on January 14th to have TWO bugs of the day. But before I move on to that, while we're still mentally in the cold forest stream, I should mention that I did see water beetles, too, as I do on most nights, but they were uncooperative regarding photographs. Not even worth posting them.

I don't remember if I mentioned this before, but caddisly larvae are a biotic indicator. Having them in the stream indicates a healthy stream with good water quality.

Now, it is still surprising to me to be finding water insects when the water is just barely above freezing. But having found the other Backyard Co-Bug of the Day should not be surprising in the winter, given that winter is in their name.

Backyard Co-Bug of the Day #2:

The first time I ever saw a stonefly in the winter I was surprised, because I didn't know the species was called winter stonefly. I have seen them the last few winters, and it doesn't surprise me now. I saw several on this tree trunk during my walk last night, and there were still several there when I went out mid-afternoon today. When I did my night walk later, though, they were not to be found. 

I do love that I now know there are a lot of winter insects. On my walks today I also saw winter crane flies and a winter moth. I saw a winter ant on a walk a few days ago (my cellphone pictures of that did not come out well enough to post). When I came back from my day walk in the woods I did wander around the backyard with my camera for a bit, and found a bug that I don't think is a winter bug, as it were:

When I first spotted this Hemiptera walking up the front walk I thought it was a birch catkin bug, but it's not colorful enough. Which means I don't know what it is, probably some kind of plant bug.

Our Halloween jack o'lantern has collapsed in on itself and kind of dried up, but when I poked it with a stick, a couple of springtails hopped out, so there may still be a bunch of them in there. I think they are decomposers, so it makes sense to find them there. After our rainy November and December, it's been pretty dry lately, so I haven't been seeing springtails when I'm out. (I did see some on the big pond a while ago, frozen into the ice!). Anyway, here's one that had been hiding out in the pumpkin:

I have been spending a lot of time outside lately, because we have been working on clearing the invasive plants from the field that is part of our new property, and while I have been out there working I have seen a lot of tiny spiders. I have seen them in the woods, too, and after one big rain, when I was looking at a mass of springtails on a pool of water in an old test pit in the woods, I saw one run across the surface of the water. I should probably mention that so far this winter has not been really cold, and most days are in the upper 30s, lower 40s, but it's still a little bit surprising to see so many spiders around. Anyway, I found one while walking around the backyard with my camera today, so here's some Arachnid Appreciation:

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Stream Life

This is mildly deja vu-ish from yesterday, but today while I was on my woods walk with my flashlight (it wasn't completely dark yet, but dark enough that I brought it with me, and that it was useful for seeing insects in the water), as I was watching a water beetle (I may be wrong about my identification of them as predaceous water beetles, by the way, but they are water beetles), I saw something else moving in the stream pool. At first I thought it was just something being moved by the water, but as I kept an eye on it it was obvious that it was moving deliberately. Then I caught a brief glimpse of its head, and... well, I should probably show it to you.

Backyard Bug of the Day:

Somewhat unprepossessing, I know. I think this is a caddisfly larva. Caddisfly larvae build houses for themselves, with different species using different materials. Some glue together tiny rocks with silk. I have even seen pictures where caddisfly larvae kept in tanks were given gemstones and used them to make their cases. Some will use tiny bits of vegetation, which I think it what we have here. It looks like it has used part of a leaf.

Hard to see, though, and photograph, as I crouched precariously on the mossy bank of the stream with a phone camera, my subject illuminated by a flashlight... There is a beetle just out of the shot, by the way.

At least I can point it out for you...

You can see it a little better in this video, because at least it is moving:

 I did manage a couple of glimpses of its head, but I didn't manage to get a photo of it. You get a tiny flash of the larva right at the start of the video.

I never would have thought that I would be finding insects in the stream in the middle of winter. I didn't see them last winter, but I wasn't looking for them last winter, because I never expected to find them. Now that I know they are there, it is an interesting feature of my daily walks. It is also kind of exciting to be able to add water bugs to my backyard bug finds, now that I have water features other than just the puddles left after rain.

Water Bugs

 Happy New Year, Bug Fans!

I am still on hiatus as far as doing bug walks goes, which means no pictures, which means no posts, unless I actually happen to get a picture without going out with my camera, intentionally searching for bugs. Which is what happened tonight when I was doing my forest walk after dark. I got a new flashlight for Christmas, and it is very powerful, which means it actually gives off enough light to take a picture with my phone. So when I came to the pool by frog rock in the stream tonight, and by the light of my flashlight saw several predaceous diving beetles, I was finally able to get pictures of them.

Backyard Bug of the Day:

Predaceous diving beetle. The water in the stream is amazingly clear–this is a picture of a beetle underwater.

Obviously the water in the stream is not frozen, but it must be very cold. When I left for my walk the temperature had dropped to about 34ºF, and it was a little bit colder when I got back. The temperature last night was in the 20s, and it was in the 40s during the day today. But I have been able to spot these on a lot of night walks that were around the freezing mark (for some reason, unlike during the warmer months, I have only been seeing these at night). Flowing water will stay unfrozen longer than still water when the temperature drops, but when the water gets to 32ºF, it will freeze. I wonder, though how cold is too cold for the beetles? I also wonder where they went when the stream froze up during the drought (which seems to have ended)–did they bury themselves in the mud and wait for water to come back, or did they fly somewhere else and come back when the water came back? It's interesting that a beetle that hangs out underwater can even fly.

I may not be doing my bug walks lately, but I am always happy to find bugs on my walks.