Jericho Conservation Newsletter #5.
See VTBugeyed.blogspot.com for my Insect blog posts.
Enchanted
by Invertebrates
Whether competing for most species or simply enjoying the pleasures of incredibly diverse designs, behaviors, sensory and other abilities - Insect watching is the new birding.
SO READER, WHEN was the last time you went birdwatching, asks Pete Donne in his Enchanted by Birds article in Bird Watching Magazine, June 2023. For me, the answer is nearly every day - bird watching yes, but also inverting.
I ask, SO READER WHEN, was the last time you went inverting (Invertebrate watching)? You know, those tiny little creatures said to run the world. They keep pest insects in check, pollinate crops we rely on as food, act as sanitation experts, clean up waste so that the world doesn't become overrun with dung, maintain healthy soil, recycle nutrients, improve the overall health and resistance of the forest, and indirectly turn plant material into baby birds and other animals.
Watching, observing, and spending leisure time floating in the restaurant ambiance of a bumblebee queen caching food on her pollen basket. When was the last time you stopped to look at the early blooming flowers like those on native Willows, Hazelnut, Black Cherry, Maple, and others to find what bees have awakened from their winter slumber hungry? In our 1.3-acre back yard on some of these early flowers, I find (as early as April) Frigid mining bees, neighborly mining bees, golden sweat bees, Two-spotted Bumblebees, Perplexing bumblebees, Tricolored bumblebees, Yellow-banded bumblebees, Half-black bumblebees, Unequal Cellophane bees, Orange-legged furrow bees, Horned-face mason bees, and Blue Orchard bees. And that is just the bee list.
*The pollen basket is located on the bee's hind legs and consists of hairs surrounding a concave structure. As a bee visits a flower, she grooms herself and brushes pollen sticking to her body toward her hind legs. She then packs the pollen into the pollen basket.
Beyond the visual enticement of bees like the colorful, yellow, orange, and black tri-colored bumblebee, are the behaviors (easy to watch many of them), and the less obvious sensory and other capabilities of our native bees.
For the hard-to-see amazing, knock-you-out-of-your-chair capabilities and often unseen ways of living and raising a family of our native bees, read such books as The Solitary Bees - Biology, evolution, conservation. Even people who recognize that the honey bee is not native and that Vermont has about 275 native bees, may not be aware of the recent findings by scientists about solitary bees highlighted in this book.
An Immense World: How Animal Senses Reveal the Hidden Realms Around Us by Ed Young is an astounding book that after reading the solitary bee book, you will again be floored many times over as you read about the astonishing ways that animals (including insects) experience our planet.
Field guides are helpful with identification as is particularly iNaturalist, and Vt Center for Ecostudies website.
Seeing is believing. That is where you will likely first become hooked on inverting. Getting out there in your backyard, a park, the woods, grasslands, or any place that has a diversity of native plants (some naturalized non-native plants also attract invertebrates) can’t be beaten for engaging the world of small to tiny. Many insects have structures, habitats, abilities, and behaviors no less complex than humans - much of which we can observe. Each of their abilities has evolved to meet their specific needs and environments.
Yes, they fly or move about and hide quickly, yes they are small (in our perceptions and senses) but thanks to the digital world we can photograph them (cell phone or camera) to see more detail as we enlarge them on the screen. Careful, patient, and frequent observations can capture many feats drawing out your OMG comments.
I have seen this and more with many tales to tell of astonishing behaviors, actions, and heart-touching family tenderness insects perform. During the summer not nearly a week goes by between times when I come running into the house to tell Maeve of an extraordinary feat performed by an insect that I was fortunate to observe.
Just as in birding, there is a faction of folks who at one time or another like to do listing or keeping track of the different species of insects they have observed. Though not a lister per se I do record summaries of my observations by species for my own interest as well as to showcase to others the immense number of living species there are in our world, in our yards in our towns.
My main interest in counting and recording the insects observed in our yard is twofold. One to contribute to scientific studies by posting my photos of insect observations onto iNaturalist. Secondly, I wish to determine if the species diversity goes up over time as we add more native plants each year. Currently, we are at 68 bee species and over 600 insect species observed in our yard.
Competition can be fun as well. J.U.L.S. Jericho & Underhill Life Search - Game on! How Naturalistic Observations in the Green Mountain State of Vermont Can Enhance Your Life or J.U.L.S. is a way to participate as a citizen scientist, interact personally one-on-one with many other life forms nearby, and have fun joining others in competing in a count of species both individually and by town. As of the end of April 2023, Jericho was in tenth place in Vermont cities and towns with just over 2,000 species submitted to iNaturalist. Participate in JULS for fun, for science, and for competition.
If I were to ask you for one or a few compelling reasons to observe insects and other wildlife, how would you answer in a few sentences?
Alicia Daniel, Master Naturalist, UVM responds in part, "I first fell in love with insects and arachnids over a microscope. There is so much beauty in their tiny world. Creatures like silver spiders with iridescent green spots amazed me. Beauty too small to see with our naked eye abounds in the world and the connections between all life run the world.”
My response “Observing insects is like sliding down Alice in Wonderland's rabbit hole. I often say that if insects were the size of elephants we would all be going around with our jaws on the ground in awe at the spectacular wonders of the artistic design, as well as the behaviors and lifestyles of insects that today, partly because of their size relative to ours, we hardly notice at all. Think of a zoo without bars.
"I think it is so absolutely fascinating to see all the different ways that life has chosen to answer the same question, and that is how to sustain life. If there is a way to live, life has tried it." - Shelby Perry, Naturalist, Ecologist, Engineer, N.E. Wilderness Trust
And this is from Kent McFarland, Conservation Biologist, Photographer, Writer, and Naturalist, VT Ctr. for EcoStudies. “There is a whole world that most of us ignore right at our feet, in the backyard, at the park, in the forest…everywhere. There’s love, war, and even some rock and roll. It’s all going on around us unnoticed by the little things that rule the earth. Insects. Take a close look. Just sit and watch all that life unfolding. I did that one day and I’ve never been able to stop.”
Meet your neighbors, the small but delightful ones, they will surely cause you to pause, slowly but surely pique your interest, and frequently astound you - all you have to do is look closely.
I am an inverter. Inverting is the new birding - a competitive game, a benefit to scientific studies, and a constantly surprising array of living entertainment. Try it.
For a first-hand account, read my May Nature Journal: An Unsuccesful Search Leads to Discovery.
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