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Jun. 21st, 2013 01:15 pmThose of you reading this who live in the Boston area, can you tell me whether you ever get fireflies up here? Lightning bugs, whatever. I've been keeping an eye out for them around dusk for weeks now and I haven't seen a one near me. I haven't heard crickets, either, or any other noisemaking insect. Definitely no cicadas, which is weird since I thought we were in the area where the brood is making its 17-year emergence. There's just no insect noises at all near where I live, and it's very strange.
Which isn't to say there are no insects. I encountered a few mosquitoes near my house. I saw a bumblebee near the train station a while back. I scooped up a moth that was flailing in a trench in the sidewalk near the train station this morning and put it over the fence into a more dirt-and-plant intensive area where it wouldn't get stepped on. (Very pretty moth, too. White and black spatter, like cookies and cream ice cream, and fuzzy.) I've found dead ladybird beetles in my windows, and small black beetles of unknown type, and there've been little clothing-moths the size of a grain of rice or a little larger every so often. I've seen some dragonflies, too- I always keep an eye out for them- and I have never lived anywhere with so many anthills in between cracks of the pavement or hiding among the grass on the lawns. There are spiderwebs on the railings leading up to my house and in the space between the bulkhead doors and the entrance to the cellar, so the spiders must be feeding on something. (Although I hardly ever see the spiders themselves.) I think I've even seen a little red mite or two.
But I don't remember seeing any honeybees, or yellow jackets, or wasps- although I could be wrong about the honeybees, there may have been some this spring that I just didn't see. I don't remember seeing houseflies, for pity's sake, or cabbage butterflies. Maybe one zebra swallowtail- no, never mind, that wasn't in my area, that was up by Newburyport. I saw something gnatlike this morning- didn't fly like a mosquito but I couldn't tell what it was.
Where are the noisemaking insects? And what are the flying insectivores feeding on, if there are no flying insects making themselves obvious? What are the birds feeding on- or are all the species up here seed-eaters and fish-eaters and birds of prey? The border between my town and East Boston is a swamp, for crying out loud. What's going on with the local insects?
Which isn't to say there are no insects. I encountered a few mosquitoes near my house. I saw a bumblebee near the train station a while back. I scooped up a moth that was flailing in a trench in the sidewalk near the train station this morning and put it over the fence into a more dirt-and-plant intensive area where it wouldn't get stepped on. (Very pretty moth, too. White and black spatter, like cookies and cream ice cream, and fuzzy.) I've found dead ladybird beetles in my windows, and small black beetles of unknown type, and there've been little clothing-moths the size of a grain of rice or a little larger every so often. I've seen some dragonflies, too- I always keep an eye out for them- and I have never lived anywhere with so many anthills in between cracks of the pavement or hiding among the grass on the lawns. There are spiderwebs on the railings leading up to my house and in the space between the bulkhead doors and the entrance to the cellar, so the spiders must be feeding on something. (Although I hardly ever see the spiders themselves.) I think I've even seen a little red mite or two.
But I don't remember seeing any honeybees, or yellow jackets, or wasps- although I could be wrong about the honeybees, there may have been some this spring that I just didn't see. I don't remember seeing houseflies, for pity's sake, or cabbage butterflies. Maybe one zebra swallowtail- no, never mind, that wasn't in my area, that was up by Newburyport. I saw something gnatlike this morning- didn't fly like a mosquito but I couldn't tell what it was.
Where are the noisemaking insects? And what are the flying insectivores feeding on, if there are no flying insects making themselves obvious? What are the birds feeding on- or are all the species up here seed-eaters and fish-eaters and birds of prey? The border between my town and East Boston is a swamp, for crying out loud. What's going on with the local insects?
