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.