The last couple of days have finally felt spring-like, with the sun out and temperatures in the 60s by the afternoon. On a walk around some ponds yesterday, I found this tiny click beetle on the end of a willow catkin. It’s in a genus I’ve seen before, Gambrinus, and my earlier photo looks like it may be the same species.
This is one diminutive beetle. Above, you can see its size on the willow bloom, which is itself small.
On that same walk, I saw this alderfly on a bridge across a stream. These aquatic insects in the Megaloptera order (=”big wing”) live just a tiny part of their lives as adults, spending one to five years in the silt as larvae and adulting for only two weeks or so, in order to reproduce. They never go very far from the water, because they’re not greatly skilled fliers.
Mourning cloak butterflies, on the other hand, spend a relatively long time as adults: up to a year. They are often the first butterflies to emerge in the spring, because they spend the winter as adults, even in very cold climates (it’s the state butterfly of Montana). This one stayed still for quite some time, sunning itself. The deep, red-brown wings probably do a great job as solar panels. I’ll have more information on mourning cloaks in my column for Mount Pisgah Arboretum next week.
Cheers!
Ticklehead 