Signs of Spring 2 - early bugs

kw: observations, seasons, photographs

As Winter gives way to Spring, overwintering insects that have been hiding under chips of bark or in leaf litter begin to get out and look for mates. These scant resources feed some of the "early birds" that also come out of hiding.

This little moth, just 8mm long, was sitting on my storm door when I left the house yesterday morning. Were it on a tree branch, it would look like a bird dropping and go unnoticed.

The beetle in the other photo, which looks a lot like a firefly, is about 14mm long. I didn't turn it over to see if it is a firefly. It showed up when I returned home in the afternoon.

I've seen a few other insects about, including a couple of flies. I have no interest in photographing flies.

Click on either picture to see the full-size clips, one 600 pixels wide, the other 750. They illustrate the macro capabilities of the Canon SD1200. I had the camera set to 6Mpx, which produces, to my eye, cleaner images than the default mode of 10Mpx.