This is part of Papermill Lake, about half a mile from where I live. It's the source of loon calls in the late evening and early morning. You can tell by the slight fog above the lake surface that the water is warmer than the air - one of the first signs of the impending winter.
Another sign is the frost everywhere first thing in the morning:
Yesterday afternoon Walter and I went bug hunting to supply one of the classrooms that hadn't made it out on a field trip. I giggled every time I saw a pile of pebbles moving up the side of the tub. Those are caddisfly larvae, the ones who build themselves mobile homes. Different species build different styles of home, using different materials. This one uses pebbles to construct a half-football shaped home:
Flip it over and you see the larva inside:
A couple of weeks ago I encountered a wasp that was quite dopey from the cold. That's the only way I'd handle this animal:
Pretty soon it'll be too cold for any insects at all, unless I want to go wading into a river and hunt for the aquatic bugs. Which I may have to resort to doing. So if you see some idiot in the depths of winter wading knee deep into a stream with a tub and paintbrush in hand, it's me.
S.
2 comments:
The bugs are coming inside at my house. I saw two centepedes in the bathroom this week. Eeeeewwwwwwwwww.
Lazy J
Will I always think of you when I encounter a bug? I have always had a touch of Charcot's maid's "seeing bugs" MS symptom, and just live with it, but yesterday a HUGE thick black spider ran oVER MY LAPTOP. I grabbed for a weapon, but the intruder was gone. Seriously the biggest spider I have ever seen. All the Raid I sniffed during my youth, no wonder I have a damaged brain. Isn't it wonderful to live so close to a lake?
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