December 15, 2024

December is hurrying by so fast now that I'm almost ready for Groundhog Day to come sniffing around for the welcoming crowd at Punxsutawny, PA.  Dawn has started opening pinker and pinker.  Here is the dawn as it rose on December 8.  In picture 3, you can see that the ice cover on the Pond has started retreating, but don't worry - that is a temporary sign that Winter doesn't come all at once.

In this picture, you can see that the ice cover on the Pond has started retreating, but don't worry - that is a temporary sign that Winter doesn't come all at once.

To show you how very fast the weather changes,  here is the Pond on November 29 and December 2.

I didn't even have to go outside to snap a few Asian Lady Beetles and Eastern Boxelder Bug on the morning of December 11.

When I did go outside on December 10, I found this Pentotomomorph Bug (two shots).  It looks as if it has swollen eyes on the back of its head, doesn't it?  It is possibly Arhyssus lateralis, a member of Scentless Plant Bugs, Family Rhopalidae.  iNat member @kgrebennikov says we can't tell for sure, since the genitalia aren't available to use for ID.

The third one is a member of Dirt-colored Seed Bugs in Tribe Drymini of the family Rhyparochromidae.  Fourth is a Beetle, in genus Cryptophagus.   So even though it is not warm out there, there are still a few new things to see.

There was also a tiny Caterpillar that day.  And a number of Crane Flies.

Here is another Fly on December 10.  I can't see the venation well enough to go to Genus, but it's a Crane Fly!  The second thing is just that, a Thing, also on December 10.

Here is an Ant-mimic Sac Spider.  And the one (two photos) on the next row is another kind of Spider, a Typical Orbweaver.  Last on that row is  a Looper (the larva of a Geometrid Moth),  called Looper because of its walking gait.  (The word Geometrid means "measuring the earth", which that looping gait imitates.)

By evening of the 11th, it was down to close to  32 F.  Make no mistake, Winter is icumen in!  But the Fishes were still active in the Pond, now that its heater is keeping a hole in the ice on top.  They don't make any attempt to charm some food out of me though.

Did I sound whiny about the temperature's being in the low 30's F that last night?   Well,  imagine my distress when I watched the indoor-outdoor thermometer in the bathroom window go from 26 F down to 23 F as the day progressed on December 12...

I've started some seeds (had to send off for them) to try to get a couple of kinds of Thistle plants going before summer, when I hope once more to be able to spend some quality time in the yard photographing a colony (maybe two colonies this summer) of Keeled Treehoppers and their Ant companion (Eastern Black Carpenter Ant or much smaller yellow Ant) as they grow the colony to adulthood over a couple of months.   I was hoping for Bull Thistle seeds but ordered what was available on the marketplace, (Scottish Thistle and finally - Bull Thistle seeds).  I can't tell from these photos which kinds of Thistles I'll hopefully be raising this mid-summer -- The 18 tiny seedlings shown here may be one or the other kind.   But you can't imagine (or maybe you can)  my joy when I looked at the pie-pan garden only a couple of days after I planted the seeds.   I only hope I didn't plant them too early (which would mean they would die off before their outdoor growing season(!).   Anyway, thanks to all who have been biting their tongues and helping me hope for the survival of the seedlings!

Please, everyone, take care in this cold time of year, and keep yourselves thinking about our Environment and any changes it is going through.  Love, Martha