March 2021 has been one of the warmest and mildest I can recall and I have never seen this many bugs and insects emerging before April. For the last few week there have been spiders wandering and crawling out across the melting snow drifts, almost like extreme explorers on glaciers. I am note sure yet what species the first two images are but I suspect they are some type of Drawf or Sheetweb Spiders. This last one, directly above is a Thanatus Crab Spider, they are quite common spiders found Pacific Heights and this one was on a snow drift near the pedestrian walkway near Kensington Save on Foods. I did not always take my camera out with me but I counted about 20 spiders observed on my walks the weekend of March 13th and 14th. More snow had melted and there were about 30 seen the following weekend March 20th and 21st. Most were common were these Red and Black wanderers: This past weekend was the warmest one yet with Temperatures up to +18 Celsius on Sunday, in most open areas the snow had melted down and not much for drifts remained . April has also been quite lovely and some of the wasps and beetles I usually do not see until End of April or early May have been out and about. Below are some of the bugs found in Saskatoon, mostly Pacific Heights and out at Chappell Marsh Conservation Area just south of the city. A small Rove Beetle running underfoot in the gravel alley behind Tache Crescent in Pacific Heights, Saskatoon. A few of these large Flea Beetles were crawling upward from the debris at the foot of the sound wall behind Michener Crescent in Pacific Heights, Saskatoon. An adult female Ichneumon wasp my sister found and brought to me as we were looking for bugs and birds at Chappell Marsh Conservation Area just South of Saskatoon. At Chappell Marsh we were trying to walk the Buffalo Berry Trail there and had to walk on the grasses adjacent to the path since the snow drifts on the path were so high and soft we kept sinking in to our knees. While walking in the grass we startled a few of these tiny sharpshooting leaf hoppers, recent identified on iNaturalist.org as Helochara communis - the Bog Leafhopper. We also startled a few spiders in the grasses on the snow drifts. This was a sub-adult wolf spider in the genus Pardosa at Chappell Marsh. Early Jumping Spiders! :) The first image is a Habronattus Jumping spider on the Sound Wall behind Langevin Cresent in Pacific Heights and the second image is a female Zebra Jumping Spider on the outside building of the Saskatoon Farmers Market Building on Koyl Ave in Saskatoon near the Airport. An early Honey Bee, it had flown around us and landed on the pathway at Chappell Marsh where it wrestled with a piece of sage on the path, not sure if it was getting anything from the sage as it was not blooming.
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My name is Sara from Saskatoon!Hello! I am an amateur photographer with a passion for bugs and insects! Archives
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