Tuesday, March 2, 2010

Intrepid

The girls and I found these little cocoons hanging from a guardrail next to the river a couple of weeks ago. There were these insects that look like a type of fly, everywhere, even rambling in and out of footprints in the snow.
I have always been so impressed by the migrators and hibernators of winter - one of my dreams is to witness mass migrations of species like the caribou and wildebeest, the monarchs, the Christmas crabs, the grey whales...but I tell you - the survivors are truly amazing. To see these insects emerge in the still-dark-ish days of winter just defies all common sense!!
My beloved Field Guide to Insects and Spiders of NA by Art Evans calls them Early Brown Stoneflies, but What's That Bug? says that they're snowflies, a type of stonefly. That sounds apt!

2 comments:

Annie said...

I totally got shivers looking at those cocoons!

Stephanie said...

Cool!
It's such a treat to see bugs - any kind! this time of year. :) I love that. (I also love the feeling I get that being inside all the time is ending, too!)