Monthly Archives: March 2012

The Lilacs are Blooming

Posted on March 28, 2012 by the roused bear

The lilacs are blooming.  They are not as far along as they were when I took this photo on May 2, 2010.  However, I would bet they are less than a week away from this stage now.  That would put … Continue reading →

Posted in insects | Tagged , , | 2 Comments

Apple Blossoms

Posted on March 26, 2012 by the roused bear

The apple tree is blooming, and with it come a lot of insects.  I lost both of my beehives over the winter, and have not seen any honeybees.  I have seen some other bees, however, and a number of other … Continue reading →

Posted in diptera | Tagged , , , | 3 Comments

First Butterfly Photographs of the Year

Posted on March 25, 2012 by the roused bear

This has been an unusually warm year.  Flowers are blooming about three weeks ahead of schedule, and the butterflies are early as well.  As of today I have seen nine butterflies and four species. I was able to photograph the … Continue reading →

Posted in butterflies | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

The Fourth Annual Day of Insects

Posted on March 24, 2012 by the roused bear

I was fortunate enough to be able to attend the fourth annual Day of Insects at Reiman Gardens at the Iowa State University campus in Ames, Iowa today. This is an event for people who are interested in insects to … Continue reading →

Posted in Biological diversity, insects | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

Spring Happenings

Posted on March 21, 2012 by the roused bear

It rained fairly hard in parts of yesterday and today.  You can smell the earthworms–the boy-girl earthworms crawl out of their underground homes to meet up with other boy-girls (or is it girl-boys?) At the forsythia bush, during a light … Continue reading →

Posted in Biological diversity, diptera, insects | Tagged , , | 1 Comment

Sometimes You Get Lucky

Posted on March 19, 2012 by the roused bear

We had some thunderstorms today–warm, summer-like rains.  I went outside shortly after one of the showers and looked for insects on the side of a locust tree trunk.  This tree has some great lichens which I knew would look spectular … Continue reading →

Posted in Biological diversity, invertebrates | Tagged , , , | 3 Comments

More Flowers

Posted on March 18, 2012 by the roused bear

The forsythia is starting to bloom. 

Posted in plants | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

Another Critter in the Grass

Posted on March 17, 2012 by the roused bear

I think this is a sawfly.  Not sure though.  There are a lot of species of sawflies and I don’t really know them well.  

Posted in insects | Tagged , | 1 Comment

Spiders on the Loose

Posted on March 16, 2012 by the roused bear

In the leaf litter of my yard are a large number of juvenile spiders.  They all seem to be the same species, but I don’t know the name.  The hardest part about photographing them seemed to be that they would … Continue reading →

Posted in invertebrates | Tagged , , , , , | 3 Comments

More Summer-Like Weather

Posted on March 15, 2012 by the roused bear

We are having very warm weather still.  Here is a photo I took a couple of days ago.  I was surprised by the number and diversity of very small insects flying around.  Are they present in the summer, and do I … Continue reading →

Posted in diptera, insects | Tagged , , | Leave a comment