 |
| Gall Wasp #1 |
Winter bugs are back! After an abysmal winter in 2013-14,
this season has already proved itself to be more productive. The winter season
last year started off with an ice storm, making winter hiking treacherous for
weeks. It was then followed by ridiculously cold weather… too cold for me, and
too cold for bugs. In contrast, this year started with a dumping of snow,
followed by nice mild temperatures that hovered just above freezing during the
day. I like this a lot, and hope it bodes well for the rest of the season to
come!
Today’s hike took me to a beautiful forested park in
Colchester. The limestone bedrock and cliffs make this place a great place for botanists,
with carpets of ephemeral wildflowers in spring and a nice mix of deciduous
trees including lots of oak and hickory. Most of my winter insect searches have
been in central Vermont, where oak is sparse or absent, so it is not surprising
that today’s adventure turned up some new winter insects to me.
 |
| Gall Wasp #2 |
These two gall wasps were my first winter Hymenoptera. I’m
still reading up on their life history and trying to figure out why they’re active
this time of year, but that will have to wait for another day. Tomorrow is the
Burlington Christmas Bird Count, and I need to be awake and alert for nocturnal
birding at 1 a.m. followed by diurnal birding at 7 a.m. So… more to come on
gall wasps later!
The other highlight of today’s walk was a long-jawed
orbweaver (Tetragnatha viridis). I’ve found many Long-jawed Orbweavers on snow
before, but this is the first I’ve been able to narrow down to species, as its
green color is unique (and beautiful!).
 |
| Tetragnatha viridis |
