Walkies in the forest

This is unusual for January, melted snow on the shoreline of the wetland. I dare not go snowshoeing in there. It's so sad.



Looking closer at the puddles, I realized it was filled with springtails, AKA snow fleas.

I spotted the pileated woodpecker. It was a horrid day for photos, but this is where he was! The good photo is from my archive.

pileated woodpecker from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

The wetland is so different in winter.



We've lost trees in our winds. It blew their tops right off!


Two drops of blood on the snow. It'll soon be antler time. They shed them at this time of year. The clues for those inclined to collect them are these drops of blood. I shall have to go for a walk prior to our forecast ice storm.



Great excitement, I thought. I realized it might just be orange-ish urine! It is shedding time, though.



Deer beds in the snow, right on the edge of the wetland.



The oak leaves hang on until mid-winter. Recent winds blew them off. Soon it will be spring!



The oak tree beside the driveway.


In the backyard, you can see the wandering tracks of the deer. And, yes, I still need to clean my sensor.



Visit more critters: Saturday's Critters #319!

Walkies on Sunday

Sunday I went walkies. All alone. No felines wanted to accompany me. There had been a lot of traffic in the yard. Rabbits, coyote, turkeys. The mosquito is highly unusual with these varying temperatures.
If you look closely, Butch stayed on this side of the trailcam. The coyote avoided it, as well. SIGH


Down on the frozen pond, the turkeys created a lovely pattern. Nice of them, as this dreary, cloudy weather is sad.


The colours are so dreary, but we know the critters are sleeping under the frog pond ice.


Butch raccoon was everywhere.


I love this tree, on lot #3. A massive pine.


This is just a little bit of green in the snow, with rabbit poo! Lots of rabbit tracks.


Then there were the snow fleas, properly called springtails. Billions! I did a big post on them awhile back:Nov. 2013 Feeling itchy?! I've got fleas! That's when I had a macro lens.

Feeling itchy?! I've got fleas!

Springtails on snow Jan. 2012

It's been a heavy month of Canadian politics, municipal and federal. Today, the date 50 years ago, when Kennedy was assassinated. I go outdoors and play with my camera, in nature, for perspective, for healing, to relax in fresh air.
I've even begun decorating for the season! As a retired teacher, a thematic approach in decor calls me!

Just because the nights are below zero ( 32F.), doesn't mean there isn't action in the goldfish pond!

As with all my blogging fun, it is a challenge to capture them digitally.

There was a skiff of ice on the goldfish pond, and I spotted the little critters sliding about. I knew what they were right away!

The young goldfish, the ones that chose NOT to come indoors for winter, were up at the surface the other day, on a very cold day. It caught my attention.

Snow fleas are unusual, in that most of the insects disappear in winter, hiding in comfort under the snow, resting until the snow begins to melt and boys and girls begin to get frisky in the.

O, wind, if winter comes, can spring be far behind? 

                                ~Percy Bysshe Shelley

snow fleas from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.
It was a cold one yesterday. The pond has been freezing and thawing depending upon the day. I went out, thinking I might throw the fish some food, but it appears that the snow fleas have called a meeting on the top of the pond. I wondered what they were after at the water surface.

 Snow fleas (Hypogastrura harveyi and Hypogastrura nivicola) 

You can see that I'm still learning
the ins and outs of macrophotography!

They are species of springtail. They spring about on snow, gather in melt water. They are really a dark blue colour, about 1 - 2 mm long. With no wings, they spring about on the snow by a catapult: two tail-like furcula on their lower abdomen. They have short antennae, and have two eye clusters (with 16 eyes in each).

They have a purpose: they eat decaying organics as well as bacteria, fungi, algae, pollen, round worms and rotifers. In spring they mate, females lay eggs, the nymphs molt a few times and by winter they are adults.

Macrophotography, bugs, snow fleas and Spring!

I've done my share of research. Photographing the moon well is tough, for example.

snow flea

There are guidelines for insects. Lightstalking has macro insect tips!

What some people do: Macrophotography –setup a bit much! I find the smaller they are, the harder it is to photograph them!


Snow fleas are out about in the damp weather.

Here they congregated at the bottom of a footprint in the bog. In the video, I managed a close-up. The snow fleas were all congregated in the foreground, middle. It is bizarre.


It is snow flea season! They are busily eating rabbit poo, crawling all over the leaves. They sound like fine rain falling, as they bounce on the brittle leaves!

New bug sucker 2.0, AKA pooter!

In the meantime, indoors, I've been hatching lady beetles in my impatience plant. Not by choice, although some people buy them for their gardens as they eat aphids.

bug collector V. 1.0

I don't have many aphids, and they didn't seem to make a dint in my white fly population. What good are they? I have caught 98 lady beetles, so far. Can't wait until I can put this plant outdoors!

My old bug collector is somewhat wonky, and I made a new one. Did you know they are called Pooters?!

So nice to see bright blooms!

I remember making bug suckers with a class once-upon-a-time, with my students. I loved integrating science into curriculum. We would grow bulbs, and photograph their daily growth, chart it on a graph, track the rate of blooms.

We used old film canisters, in the good old days of 35 mm, but I used a mason jar and a hot glue gun to secure two tubes into the lid.

Cover the end with gauze so you don't suck up the bugs.
Sort of an anti-bug sucker!

Lots of hot glue to keep the seal.
Bugs come in the one tube,
as you suck through the other tube.

So cute!

Lady beetle