Green Cloud

 Ah, spring flowers...

Not what you had in mind? Well, aside from one creeping myrtle bloom, this is what I've got. These are male hazelnut flowers. Or catkins. If you have pollen allergies, it's not the showy, beautiful flowers that are your problem, no, those are pollinated by bees, and they have heavy, sticky pollen. What you have to worry about are male flowers that look pretty much like this. I accidentally bumped one and a cloud of pollen was released. Fortunately, I was upwind. My allergy shots don't contain hazelnut pollen. I don't know if I am allergic to hazelnut pollen, they don't test for that, but I am allergic to a lot of other tree pollens. Best to avoid breathing it in. The female flowers of the hazelnut tree are tiny and unremarkable... and I couldn't find any on either of my hazelnut trees. I hope they are there, and I am just not seeing them, because without the female flowers there will be no hazelnuts.

I did a partial bug walk in my backyard today–it was irresistible, because the temperature was in the mid-60s and it was gloriously sunny. Imagine my disappointment that this is the only bug I saw:

Springtail, I think.

Better look. It was scurrying along on this tree trunk. I spotted it while trying to take a picture of the spider, which was also scurrying, and since the spider was obviously afraid of me and trying to get away from the camera, it didn't see the springtail going the other direction. I did not get a picture of the spider at all.

So, the backyard bug walk was pretty much a failure, but I brought my camera on my woods walk, and had a little more success. Still, I expected to see A LOT of bugs today. I did not.

A year and a couple of days ago I found something interesting in the woods that I had never seen before. Now that I know it exists, I have been looking for it, though not quite remembering when I saw it, so not quite sure when I might be expected to find it. Today was the day.

Backyard Bugs of the Day:

Blackfly larvae. Last year when I first saw them I had no idea what they were. They are creepy little things. They cling to leaves under the flowing water, and grab at whatever washes by that looks edible. Last year I got a few closer pictures by taking some leaves out of the water, but I didn't feel like doing that today. If I did, most of these would let go of the leaf and get washed away in the current.

There were a couple of leaves by the bridge with the larvae on them.

I checked a lot of beech trees on my walk. This is the only candy striped leaf hopper that came out on this lovely day.

Many years ago I went on a spring wildflower walk held at a state forest and learned about spring ephemerals, which are flowers that bloom early in the spring for a brief time. Many of them are in woodlands, where the best time for them to bloom is before there are leaves on the trees, when they are getting a lot of sunlight. One of the plants I learned was a spring ephemeral is skunk cabbage, and they are one of the first plants to come to life in the spring, in wetland areas like swamps, or near streams. Last year I saw this plant in early spring and was excited for this sign of spring. But last fall I noticed this sprout in the stream, and realized that while the flower blooms early in the spring, the appearance of this bud wasn't really a spring thing. It's not blooming yet, and there's a lot of water in the stream at the moment. So far on the banks of the stream I have only seen one sprout so far.

Swarm of winter crane flies.

If I had scrounged through the leaf litter today I may have found a few sleepy bugs hiding. There are things stirring under there on their own, and this is an excellent time to spot spiders on the leaf litter, no doubt hunting for all the things hiding under there. Like this lovely for Arachnid Appreciation:

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First jumping spider of the year! On the side of the house.

Spider on the picnic table in the woods.

Treading Carefully

 We had a snow/sleet/rain storm yesterday which left a slick, hard coating of frozen snow/slush on the ground, so I strapped my crampons onto my boots and headed for the sunny woods. As we descended into the valley, it occurred to me that I had not seen any bugs at all (it was a few degrees above freezing), but I found something on my way down that path. And then when I got down by the stream...

Backyard Bugs of the Day:

This is where I like to see snow fleas–on the snow. A reminder, snow fleas are not fleas, they are a species of springtails (and I am still confused about whether they are insects of not). There were thousands of them, not bunched together (which would have made them easier to see and photograph), but spread out all over. I had forgotten that last winter we found a lot more bugs down in the valley by the stream. Other than what appeared to be a gnat, and a caddisfly larva in the stream, I didn't see any bugs other than the multitudes of snow fleas. I didn't bring my camera, because I don't like to have it on me when I am unsure of my footing, in case I fall on it, so phone photos are the best I could do.

But what did I see as I was walking down into the valley?

Arachnid Appreciation:

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I think one of the coolest things I have learned about arthropods in the years I have been studying them in my backyard is that spiders come out and walk around on snow.

First Sprouts

 Aaaah! What a beautiful day!

The sun was shining, it was warm, and finally, FINALLY! my snowdrops have sprouted. I have been looking for these for weeks. In previous years they actually bloomed by the beginning of February, and I have been despairing of seeing them this year. Whether they will bloom or not is yet to be seen; they did not last year, all that came up were the leaves. But hope remains...

On the rare occasions of me posting in the last few months I feel like I have written a lot about the fact that I have not been seeing as many bugs, or the bugs I expect to see. One of the species that has been completely absent so far this winter is the winter firefly. A diurnal species (active during the day) that is actually active year round, I expect to see, and have looked for, winter fireflies whenever I have been out on a sunny, not-freezing day, but I haven't seen any this winter... until today.

Backyard Bug of the Day:

The sad thing, though, is that most winters this tree has dozens of winter fireflies crawling on its trunk on nice days. Today I found only one.

There was a day last week when I looked at some memory posts and discovered that for two years in a row I had a wasp as Backyard Bug of the Day. Same species. Exact same day of the month. I don't know how warm it was those days, but days in the 60s, like today, are pretty rare in February (although we've had 2 this year. Or was one of them in January? I don't remember). Today I saw the same species of wasp:

For years these would sneak into the house during the winter. Twice I was rudely awakened in the morning by being stung in my armpit. I like them much better when they are outside.

It took me a while to find bugs today, and I was beginning to feel like I have forgotten how to look for them. I did a full bug walk in my regular backyard today, with only small forays into the woods and field, and it has been a long time since I did a bug walk like that, instead of just taking my camera along on my woods walks. Because my knee hurt too much, and because I had things I needed to get done today, I didn't walk in the woods, much less to the stream, so these are all just the normal bugs you'd expect to find in my backyard on a February day when it's 66ºF.

Beetle. I looked this up once, but I have forgotten what it's called. Mostly because I think it looks like a pill, like a capsule, so I think of it as a pill beetle. But that is not its name.

Odd looking ant. It's missing a leg, too.

Birch catkin bug

I went looking for some snow fleas on a rock where I have found them in the past. There were a few there...

... but while I was taking pictures of them, I noticed some unbelievably tiny things walking amongst them. Can you see anything? Mind you, the snow fleas themselves are tiny. The other things were almost too small even to see through the macro lens...

Mite

There was another mite, too, but one that is just big enough to see with the naked eye. It helps that it is bright red:

I suppose this (and the other mites) should be in Arachnid Appreciation, but I don't think anyone is going to be freaked out by these the way they are by spiders.

If you read this blog regularly (well, if you read it regularly when it was a regularly posted blog), or even if you just read the most recent post, you are probably expecting to see this:

Candy striped leafhoppers basking on their usual beech tree. I also found them on several other beech trees.

I always think of twice-stabbed lady beetles as a sign of spring.

Some kind of plant bug.

I saw a few winter ants here and there. That is a species, not just an observation of seeing them in the winter. In fact, today's high of 66.2ºF was pretty close to the top temperature for them to be around. They don't come out in the warmer parts of the year.

Just like our other recent day in the 60s, the temperature is plummeting. I am finishing this around 1:00 AM (and still pretending it's yesterday), and it is below freezing outside, and not expected to be much warmer than that all day Thursday. The weather roller coaster rides on!

Winter Spring

 Ah, what a beautiful Spring day! In February! 

This bird cuddled up in the wreath on my front porch tonight probably looks like it is trying to keep warm, but it really was a gorgeous, mild day. The temptation to pet this little fuzzball was incredible, but I have a policy of not touching wild animals. This is the second night this week it has been on the porch wreath and not flown away when we got home. 

But as for today... 

As you know, I have not been walking much recently, but today it was 60ºF, and it was much too beautiful a day NOT to go for a walk. And unlike my recent walks in the snow, when I didn't want to bring my camera because with my bad knee I was afraid of falling and didn't want another thing to throw me off, today I strapped on my camera carrier and headed for the woods. I'll just get it out of the way now and say I was a little bit disappointed in what I was able to find, just because I was expecting to find more species of insects today. On most of my walks in the last month or so I have seen at least one insect, and that is including days (and nights) when it was freezing or just above. So I thought that on a day in the 60s I would see a lot of different kinds of bugs, and a lot of the ones I did see. But other than two exceptions, to be seen shortly, I saw mostly single individuals. Ah, well, I should not complain. I had a beautiful spring day in February!

Backyard Bug of the Day:

Candy striped leaf hopper on beech leaf. This particular beech tree is one where I know to look for candy striped leaf hoppers on pleasant winter days. In fact, a couple of days ago, when the temperature was only in the 40s, but it was sunny, I found one on this tree while showing a friend who had stopped by part of my woods. I used to think that the temperature had to be in the 60s for these to come out, but in the last few years I found out that it doesn't have to be that warm. However, the one I found a couple of days ago was a solitary find. Today, with the temperature about 15 degrees warmer, there were dozens.

Other Bugs:

Even when there was ice on parts of the stream I have been finding aquatic insects all winter. Here are a couple of caddisfly larval cases made out of sand from the bottom of the stream.

Aquatic beetle. I see more of these on night hikes, but I saw a couple today.

Another caddisfly larva, this one with a case made out of dead leaves.

If you know what you're looking at, you can see that its head is sticking out.

I know, this doesn't help much.

I saw a few swarms of winter crane flies. That is the other bug I saw in large numbers today:

Winter stone fly. Last year I saw hundreds of these, particularly when there was snow on the ground; they were all along the paths we walked, crawling on the snow. So far this year I have seen two; this is one of them.

When we got home in the evening this male midge was on the front porch. You can tell it is a male from its feathery antennae. The females have very small, plain antennae. I assume the males need to sense pheremones or something from the females to find a mate.

As I said, I was hoping to see more bugs today; last night I saw a beetle on a tree, and I expected to see snow fleas, and winter fireflies–this is exactly the kind of day they should have been basking on tree trunks. I have not seen any this winter. Overall, though I have seen bugs on my walks this winter, there have been nowhere near as many as I saw last year. This is sad and puzzling.

Interesting note: tomorrow it is supposed to snow.

The arthropods I have seen most frequently on my walks in the last few months have actually been spiders, including a couple I spotted walking on snow. So it was no surprise to find them today. I found two of them on the same sprig of the beech tree where the candy striped leaf hoppers were sunning themselves. A good place to hang out if you like to prey on insects, I would say. Arachnid Appreciation:

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I frequently find these tiny spiders on my walks, especially at night when their webs reflect the light of my flashlight, which makes them easier to see.

Life Under the Ice

 I've been doing failed bug walks the last few days. I know, it's January, it's cold, "there's no bugs in winter," but I know, and if you've been reading this blog for the last few years, you know that there are, in fact, bugs in winter. There are a slew of "winter" bugs. And not just ones that come out on warmer winter days, there are some that don't seem to mind the cold. And I have seen them lately, I just haven't managed to get pictures.

One night last week, after we had had a light snow, we went for a moonlight walk in the woods. It wasn't a full moon, but it was only a couple of days past full, so it was still really bright, and with snow on the ground the night woods are well lit–we didn't even need to use our flashlights. I brought mine with me, though, and I used it to look for bugs on a particular tree that in the past has harbored bugs in all seasons. I didn't have my camera, I just like bugs, so I checked for bugs. I didn't expect to find any, the temperature was in the 20s F, and yet... there was a winter stonefly on the tree, walking around. 

So, knowing that the winter stoneflies are around and active, I went out the next day with my camera... and didn't find any bugs. I went out again the next day, and found bugs, but didn't get pictures because my camera and my knee were malfunctioning. Today, finally, bugs!

Backyard Bug of the Day:

Winter stonefly. This one was on that favorite bug tree...

And this one was on the stream:

The stream has been in varying stages of being frozen over the last few days. Two days ago it was pretty solid. Today there wasn't as much ice, although it was only a couple of degrees above freezing. Both days I saw bugs walking on the ice, a winter crane fly on Saturday, and this winter stonefly today. Both days I saw bugs under the ice, too–an aquatic beetle on Saturday, and a caddisfly larva today (which I didn't get good enough pictures of to post, mostly because my knee pain means I can't get down on the ground to take pictures). In the last couple of months we have done most of our walks after dark, since we generally have time to walk in the late afternoons or evenings, and it gets dark early in December and early January, and have occasionally seen aquatic beetles or caddisfly larvae active underwater. But that was before the stream began to freeze. Even though my experiences last winter taught me that ice on the water does not mean that the bugs underneath aren't alive and active, it's still a bit of a surprise, and really, a thrill, to see them moving under the ice. 

Finding bugs in the winter is fascinating, but I will still say, Woo hoo, only 54 days until Spring!

New Snow

 Happy New Year, Insect Enthusiasts!

Yes, I know, we're a week into it, but that's still pretty new. A year is not like a pair of white shoes, which stop being new after you've worn them once. A year is still new for a few weeks at least. I haven't written any checks yet, but I am pretty sure if I did write one, my first instinct would be to write 2021 on it. Actually, I almost labeled my picture files for today as 2021. And then after I caught myself I almost labeled several files from November and December as 2022. That confusion means it's still a new year.

Anyway, new year, first snow of the year, and so I had to go out for a walk in the woods even though I knew it would hurt my injured knee (it wasn't too bad. It's just a little bit achy now). I looked for bugs, not really expecting to find much, because it was barely above freezing, but I knew there was a chance, because it was sunny, and it was, after all, above freezing. Sometimes the key is knowing exactly where to look, so when I was almost back to the house I checked a couple of trees that are popular hangouts for snow fleas, and...

Backyard Bug of the Day:

Snow flea. Obviously. Not on snow, but trust me, there is snow all around this tree.

Snow fleas are tiny, and hard to see unless there are a lot of them crowded together, which was not the case today. But many things are easier to see if you just know to look in the right place.

Anyway, Happy New Year!

It's Winter Now

 Hello. I know, it's been a while, and I am a negligent bug blogger. I haven't been doing bug walks lately, or even woods walks because I am having a problem with my knee, and the hills and uneven terrain have been painful for me to walk on. It's making me sad, and I miss my woods. But I do enjoy seeing a few bugs when I go out in my backyard, and have even tried to get pictures a few times, but nothing worth posting. It's a wonderfully smug reminder that in spite of the bug haters' glee that bugs all die when it freezes there are still bugs out there in the chilly weather, and on the warmer days, particularly the sunnier ones, they are happy to make themselves seen. Flies aren't exactly my favorite bugs, but I do like seeing them basking in the apricity* on the side of my house. It's officially winter now, and all that means is that it's time for winter bugs. Just kidding, the bugs don't care about when the solstice is. They do what they please.

I have been reflecting on some sad bug subjects, though. In going through my pictures from this year it is noticeable how few bugs I found. I don't think it's just because I didn't do a bug walk most days, because I did spend time outside every day, and I am always looking for bugs, so the fact that I saw so few caterpillars this year is concerning. I didn't see even a single white marked tussock moth caterpillar, and usually I see them all over in the early fall, sometimes a dozen or so on a single tree trunk. And usually when we bring a Christmas tree into the house we find bugs in the days after that came in with the tree, and this year I didn't see a single insect stowaway after we got our trees (yes, trees, we have two). Last year I thought that the paucity of insects might be due to the drought, but that is certainly not the reason this year. This year there weren't any days (or evenings, rather) when there were swarms of dragonflies; those I didn't even have to do bug walks to see, I used to see them through the skylights, zipping around, eating swarms of something too small for me to see at that height. I don't know if there just weren't a lot of dragonflies (though I did see very few this year), or no swarms of whatever they would eat in those feeding frenzies. (There were PLENTY of mosquitoes this year, thanks to all that rain). It all worries me. I wish there was something I could do about it, but I am don't know what else I can do, since I already have a 35+ acre bug sanctuary. 

Anyway, I don't have a picture for this post (although I did want to wait until I was able to get a good picture to make this post, but I am running out of time for... well, you're about to find out...), and I do have a shameless reason for posting it: to promote my calendars for sale. Since I didn't do any calendars last year I used pictures from 2020 and 2021 for the calendars (I would not have had enough from this year alone). Some are specific, like the beetles one, and others are more general. I found so many cool spiders in the last two years that I have two spider calendars. Here are the links [Edit: I have decided to add pictures from each calendar, so you have bugs to look at in this post, and you know what to look forward to]:

Beetles! calendar 

 

Stingers! This one is bees and wasps.

  

Insects!

  

 Insects of the Month

 

Dragonflies 

 

Butterflies and Moths

Caterpillars (Almost all of these are pictures I took in 2020, before the caterpillar collapse)

 

Amazing Arachnids

Ooh, a Spider! Calendar 

 

If you still like to use a calendar that you can hang on your wall, with cool pictures on it, instead of just a tiny electronic one on your phone, and you like insects and/or spiders, check them out. There's always a coupon code on the site, so look for that, too [Edit: right now, on January 5, 2022, they are 50% off, with coupon code ZNEWYEAR2022. I don't know how long that's good for, but once it's done, you can usually find some other code on the site. And you can start the calendars in any month of the year].

Here's to a happy and buggy new year for us all.

*Apricity: The warmth of the winter sunshine.