November 17, 2024

The third week of November, 2024 is underway.  Up till now, the days had been comparatively comfortable for us humans.  But this morning it was 31 F when I peeked out at the outdoor thermometer!  Let's see where it goes later on.  Here you see the Fishes in the late afternoon of November 12.  (November 17, itself - it was 51 F when I checked earlier.)  You can see that the temperatures are rather higgledy-piggledy around now.

I just love the colors of these Fishes.  The ones with masses of red and blue on them are descendants of a few Shubunkins (a kind of Japanese ornamental Fish) that I've added to the pond over the years.  The bright yellow ones are a couple of Koi that I added one at a time over the past couple of years. 

You ARE NOT going to believe this, but if you remember the past few weeks, the Asian Lady Beetles have taken over the ceiling of my bedroom as their own.  Here is one of them.  But this morning, as I sit here looking up overhead, I see not a single one of these bright cheerful Beetles.  Warning: if you are lucky enough to have had one land on your face during the night, you will know that they don't have a particularly nice flavor or odor.   But how about our Bugs?  Well, you know now that they are the source of many many Leafhoppers and I've tried to show as many as possible of these little Bugs. Pictures 2 and 3 are a couple of shots of one of these, which are members of the Microleafhoppers Subfamily Typhlocybinae, Subtribe Empoascina.  They have such delicate little features in the head region!   I've shown you many of these little Leafhoppers over the past weeks.  November 16: I lie.  There is one Asian Lady Beetle right over my head as we speak.

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Surprisingly, my friend Biddy Greene of Observatory, South Africa sent me the best Bugs of this week.  First is a sample of the Variegated Coffee Bugs (genus Antestiopsis).  The second shows another example.  These gorgeous little Bugs are actually some of those Stink Bugs that we look down upon so frequently, but which come in amazing color combinations.  Biddy took these pictures of these Bugs in her car and sent them to us.  How I wish I had had this immense interest in the nature of South Africa when I was living there!

Here is a nice reddish Ant - taken November 16.  I took this picture using my cellphone as a flashlight - it has been so dark, even around noon.  The second picture was from November 15 and is probably an American Winter Ant.

 Maybe you remember the genus Trichocera into which a lot of Flies fall at this time of year.  Here are two of the most prominent species,

T. annulata and T. bimacula.

Since then we've seen (but haven't had much luck at identifying quite a few more Trichocera species.  Note: they are all Crane Flies.  And most of them are called Fall or Winter Crane Flies.   This genus is definitely a sign of Fall.

Even as we approach winter, we can still find a mosquito or two around. Or, as in the case of number three below, something that might be one.

Here are some more Fly examples.  The third one (with the enormous red eyes) is apparently in Subfamily Drosophilinae. I would have thought those eyes would qualify this Fly to be identified quickly, but alas...

There are a couple of very strange-seeming things from this week.  The other day I saw this lovely creature on the North Wall.  I finally figured it must be a Lacewing, but I couldn't find anything that looked like a Red Lacewing.  It turns out to be a Green Lacewing, but in its winter coloration!  I stretched out picture 2 so that you can see the green and red in the eyes!

Here is a creature I was completely clueless about.  But it turns out to be a Barklouse!  It's in genus Lachesilla.  There are two shots of it. I wonder if number 3 isn't the same creature. The fellow in the next row down is of course our old friend Graphopsocus cruciatus, followed by a nymph of G. cruciatus and then  by Valenzuela flavidus, the Yellow Barklouse.  It's nice to see a few Barklice again.  The North Wall is getting to be so dark that it's hard to get decent photos out there.  (The East Wall is even worse in the afternoon.)  

There are as usual plenty of Loopers, the larvae of Geometrid Moths.  I haven't ever counted the different species of them.  Sometimes I get lucky and see them looping along the wall.

This weekend I did actually see a few Moths, though probably not Looper adults.  

You're probably champing at the bit to see a few plants.  Good idea.  The vegetation is changing slowly too.  Here is the Euonymus in October, then this week (both of these pictures were taken in the front of the house, but the third was in the back yard.

Last week I got this picture of some Grape Hyacinth already green a month or three early.  The next picture shows two more coming up.

Out front, the Hellebore is still green and just waiting for Spring!  On the driveway strip we can also already see either Primrose or Poppy plants (or both).  I tell you, if you are willing to just look around, Nature is already slipping you hints of what is going on behind your back!

If you couldn't tell,  I do love this "job"!  If some young person is interested at all in poking around to look for signs of life, please let me know.  I'll give you a tour of the yard.  Maybe someone has a picture of something interesting going on in your yard -- consider letting me post it here with your name attached.  

 Speaking of signs of life, I haven't seen a frog lately.  The two we were so friendly with have probably gone deep down in the pond to wait out the winter.  Sigh.  On the other hand, the Fishes seem to have habituated themselves to the colder water and never come begging for food at all any more.  Every couple of days, I sweep the fallen leaves from off the pond net and then leave the net off for long enough to get a couple of shots of the Fishes.  In both these next two pictures, you can see some Water Lily plants that I haven't yet finished trimming out of sight.

Well, friends, that about does it for this week.  Please keep posted, and if you see something strange, let me know.  Please also keep watching Nature and thinking about how to help our planet!  Love, Martha