Until we meet again....

With an unseasonably warm Saturday afternoon, I headed toward the Greenway in hopes of finding just a few more insects to visit with before the winter arrives in earnest. There have been a few frosty mornings already this year, but certainly some hardy arthropods would still be out and about? 

Of course those common home invaders can often be spotted on sun-warmed south-facing surfaces very late in the year: stink bugs and lady beetles, boxelder bugs. Winter midges and crane flies can also be spotted on warm days in cold months, as can tiny springtails. 

On this warm day, with the temperature reaching over 70 degrees, very few insects made an appearance. Regular katydid-like chirps could be heard from the grass, but I was unable to triangulate to a source. Nearly-invisible swarms of midges swirled in sunbeams. I paused at the alfalfa bales, where a couple weeks previous dozens of grasshoppers could be seen hopping and clinging to the sides of the bales. No chitinous wanderers, just a little junco watching warily from atop a bale. 

Nevertheless, it was a lovely, peaceful outing as even other humans had made themselves scarce. With quiet all around, even the smallest noise landed heavily on alert ears, and a glance in the direction of the small tick revealed a blade of grass moving just a little out of sync with its neighbors. 

Who's there?

Well hello friend! I thought I had seen the last of the neighborhood orthopterans until next year, but there was a hardy long-legged soul in the dry grass. Are you finding enough to eat, friend? There are still some green grasses along the trail. How did you weather the hard freezes a few weeks ago? How many others are still hanging on with you here in mid-November?

No answer was forthcoming, and the grasshopper had other business to attend to, despite my eagerness to spend the afternoon getting my fill of six-legged wildlife while I still can. But what a momentary treat.