I went for a walk at lunch down to a small park along the river a few blocks from my office. It was a beautiful day, the sun was out and while there was still a bit of snow on the ground, it was melting in this late fall day. In another couple days the sun will still come out but will lose the strength to counter the cold and snow will remain till spring.
I was not expecting to find any insects, but as I was passing a birch tree I noticed a small insect walking slowly along it’s trunk where the sun was warming the surface. Looking more closely I spotted several more. Altogether I found four different species of insect on the trunk, which was four more than I expected.
I moved on and also found what I think is a beetle larvae under a piece of wood. It was very tiny and moving very slowly in the cold.
Finally I found a very tiny Mesh Web Weaver spider, or actually it found me. I was walking through some brush when I looked down and spotted it hanging off my hand. I took it over to the birch tree where I put it on the trunk and then took some pictures.
It was a beautiful day as I said already, but at 31 F it was not warm enough to stay out long and I headed back to my office after only about 40 minutes. I would have liked to have spent more time outside, but dressing for the weather and dressing for the office are not the same.
I am hoping to get out for a longer day in the woods this weekend. Till then these shorter walks will have to do.
Leave a Reply