At this time of year the Prunus trees, and certain others which must have sweet flowers, become highways for Prenolepis imparis ants. There is a line of ants going upwards, and another one of repletes coming down fat with nectar.
🧵Signs of the 17-year #cicadas are already showing up in #Elmhurst#Illinois. The city is a 25-min drive west of #Chicago and had overwhelming numbers of these cicadas in 2006 and 1989. This year, sections of the state will also be hit with a 13-year brood, an event that hasn't happened since 1803.
If you're wondering if you might be seeing them near you, this is what to look for in the soil.
The cherry trees are blooming in Trinity-Bellwoods! 🌸
…But I didn't dress up or bring a selfie stick or anything so instead I just rolled over some logs and took pictures of mites. I saw mesostigs trying to carry off springtails, plus one with some small prey (quite possibly another mite) in its mouthparts.
#BREAKING: for the first time this season I have my own weevil for #WeevilWednesday. This clumsy guy fell over at Christie Pits but he's fine now. Perhaps one of the Sitona clover weevils?
Stopped by Christie Pits on my way back from a dentist appointment today. Wasn't really expecting to find much given how much foot traffic and how little "wild" space there is, but to my astonishment there were a few different kinds of bees making burrows in sandy patches on the sunny hillside!
There were fluffy white-and-black mining bees (skittish, hard to get photos) and smaller, more docile metallic olive-green sweat bees.
Right now, the sunny, sandy slopes in High Park, Toronto are dotted with the burrows of cellophane bees (Colletes). The bees are shy and will duck back into their burrows when they see you approach, but after a few minutes they will poke their heads out again.
Found a few Ponera pennsylvanica under a rock in the garden! These curious ants are small and sinuous and slender, so at first glance they seem almost worm-like, like rove beetles (Staphylinidae), quite unlike the Crematogaster I usually see.