Winter Wildlife Normally Not Seen

With the majority of trash covered in a deep blanket of snow, I spent last week searching for some of the creatures that are normally not thought of during winter. Some, like these spiders, are not that hard to find as they slowly creep across the snow.  

Spiders are not something that I can easily identify. I know that in these five photos there are at least two species, but beyond that I can not tell you much about them. 

Carefully look at the photo above and the photo below. The one above is a spider, the one below is not. Do you know what the one below is? 

This is an arachnid, but it is definitely not a spider. This is a Harvestmen also commonly called Daddy Long Legs. From what I have seen these are much less common in the winter than spiders. In five days I only came across two Harvestmen.

Not a Mosquito, not a Midge, it is a Crane Fly. Many people mistake Crane Flies for giant Mosquitos,  but these are absolutely harmless to us. If you want to see something really interesting look up Crane Fly Larvae. The larvae is aquatic and looks nothing like the adult.

While trying to get a decent photo of the Crane Fly the little critter here came into frame. At this time of year it is not normal to find one of these all alone. Generally you will find them in groups of hundreds or thousands. This is a Collembola or Springtail. Springtails were once classified as insects, but have been deemed distinct enough to be moved to the class Entognatha. This type of Springtail are often called Snow Fleas, they are not a Flea and like Crane Flies are completely harmless to humans. Most likely you would not see a single individual by itself, they are not much larger than a pin head. In large groups though they blanket the snow. So if you happen to be out hiking when snow is covering the ground and you come across a black patch, look closely it may be a large group of Springtails.

Years ago I came across an inchworm crossing a trail in the snow. It was the first time I had ever seen an invertebrate on the snow and it was what got me interested in searching for them when there is not much else to see. Inch Worms become Geometer Moths as adults. I am not sure how the larval stage survives these conditions or what it would even eat.

The day I took these photos I had the lens I use for birds on my camera. It doesn't do the greatest at photographing small creatures. I searched for both of these insects the rest of the week, but only found them on my first day out. The one above is a Gall Wasp. A Gall is a deformation of a plant due to an insect, like the larval stage of a Gall Wasp, living inside. These insects will feed off of the xylem or phloem (dependent upon insect type or species) of the plant and will emerge as adults. This particular adult Gall Wasp had reduced wings and would not be able to fly.   

This insect can also be called a Snow Flea. A much better common name for it is a Scorpion Fly. Like the Gall Wasp above this species of Scorpion Fly has reduced wings and can't fly. 

Have you ever heard of a PET water quality test for a stream or river? PET stands for Plecoptera, Ephemeroptera and Tricoptera, this is the Stoneflies, Mayflies and Caddisflies. There are different standards for different PET tests, but all look at the diversity of the larval stages of these insect orders to determine the overall water quality of a water body. The more diversity generally means the higher the water quality with these orders being sensitive to water conditions. The insect in the photo above is an adult Winter Stonefly. 

Through the week I found that not all of the arthropods will make it through these conditions. Not sure what killed this spider, but it may have been not finding cover overnight when the temperature dropped considerably.                             

One last insect I will point out is the Hemlock Woolly Adelgid. This is an introduced species that is currently killing off our Eastern Hemlocks. The Adelgid itself cannot be seen in this photo, but you can identify it by the "woolly" casing it surrounds itself in. For years now eradication efforts have tried to eliminate this pest without overwhelming success. The Eastern Hemlock is the State Tree of Pennsylvania and the loss of this species could have major ecological impacts in the state. Hemlocks shade mountain streams year round helping to maintain the cold temperatures in them. Without these trees we could potentially loose the cold water communities found in these streams. 

With the snow I did not find much trash at all, but did pick up a few items. This bag was along a roadside. The ones below were in a parking lot. 

I know this post was a little different than normal, but I hope you enjoyed it and possibly learned something. More posts will be up soon!

You too can help with taking out the trash! If you get out hiking take a grocery bag with you, give it a second use and fill it with trash while you are out! Every bit helps. You can also help contributing to this project here: Help Fund Taking Out the Trash