January 1, 2023

Martha O'Kennon

Perhaps you remember this first scene from last week. Then you will be delighted to see the second scene. In fact, if you click a couple of times on picture 2, you will be even more delighted to see a batch of living fishes!



It is, however, still Winter, and so the Winter Ants seemed to have been hiding out. But to confuse us further, here is a queen Lasius claviger, the Common Citronella Ant. If you are wondering why a Queen Ant is out here NOW, well, I am wondering that exact same thing!



Remember that there is information in the name of the file for each image. You can see it by mousing over the image - look at the lower left of the screen. Or you can click on the image to get to the (usually) larger image. Then the info is displayed in the address line above. Sometimes the second click will actually display a different view of the original image.

Yesterday, All the snow was gone, and though it was still cold (about 40's F), a very little Bug or Barklouse showed itself.



But the usual Graphopsocus cruciatus Barklice were out, though chilly. Picture 2 shows one still frozen to that big bolt. And third shows one that has suffered considerably from some original trauma.



There were a couple of Beetles.



First here is a Crane Fly. Then you see a possible Fungus Gnat, followed by a Midge.



Here are a few Mysteries. They seem to be living creatures but I can't see them well enough (especially number 3) to identify them. I need to submit them to iNat.

Here are a couple of shots of a small Arachnid, which I thought at first was our usual Eastern Harvestman, Leiobunum vittatum. But on consultation with iNat's @Harvestman-man, I learned it was a juvenile in genus Leiobunum, specifically, in the Early-Season Group Complex Leiobunum ventricosum.



A final member of the Arthropods: an unknown (by me) Spider.



That was it for the littlest Creatures in this garden so far. But Chaim got out with his camera and caught a few Bird pictures, including these three Cardinals.



I also wandered about the front yard for a while, and found some greenery. The ferns never seem to get brown, and neither does the Hellebore. The brown leaves at the bottom of the Hellebore picture are Epimedium. Meanwhile, the Coral Berries are still fat and reddish.



In front of the house, the Euonymus berries are still waiting for the Birds to come enjoy them. And Deb hung a Snowman to greet us from across the driveway! Since I don't have any good pictures of a cat, here's a sign that there is at least one outdoors.



Well, here it is the first day of 2023, and the earth is still spinning. I hope for all of us another good year, much companionship, peace everywhere, and progress on slowing the steady heating of the only planet we have so far.

Love, Martha

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copyright Martha O'Kennon 2023