Cream-spotted Lady Beetle - Calvia quatuordecimguttata -

This lady beetle is often called the Polkadot Lady Beetle and I can see why. I found this one last week in our yard resting on the trunk of a maple. At only 5mm it's pretty tiny but sure stands out.

Golden Dung Fly - Scathophaga stercoraria

On Saturday, between rains, I was working outside in the yard. I noticed lots of these guys flying around the shed, some in the compost area and others just sitting on the wall. One thing they all had in mind was making more little flies.

Six-spotted Fishing Spider - Dolomedes triton

A couple weeks of warm weather in early March isn't enough to bring these beautiful spiders out as the bogs are still frozen and covered with snow, but I can hardly wait as this is one of my favorite spiders. Stopping at our favorite spots down the West Arm Road usually yields quite a few. They move across the top of the water with ease and when they feel threatened they simply flip under the leaf or log or floating weeds that they're on and remain submerged till the danger is gone, then they just pop back up on top again.

Single-lined Emerald - Nemoria unitaria and Wavy-lined Emerald - Synchlora aerata

When we visit the farm I like to get up early and check out the moths that were drawn to the porch light overnight. To my delight one morning in July I found these two beautiful Emeralds.

Spotted Tussock Moth - Lophocampa maculata

Just about everyone has seen these little guys crawling around in late summer. They feed on the leaves of poplar, willow, alder, birch and maple and if you touch them they roll up in a ball. The moth, on the other hand, is a little trickier to find. They come to lights, which is where I found this guy one morning. It was on the wall by the front door.

Green Lacewing - Chrysopa chi

In the summer when you see a delicate-looking bug fluttering about it's probably a Green Lacewing. Sometimes if you're lucky they will land on you. I found this one flying over the lawn back in June. The weather was pretty strange this summer but there seemed to be a more than normal amount of them in our yard. One day, while filling the bird feeder, I noticed tiny lacewing eggs hanging from a willow twig. I wasn't lucky enough to see them hatch, but I did manage to find one of the larva.

Firefly - Pyractomena borealis

I think everybody likes fireflies. You often see them on warm summer nights. Kind of magical. Well I found this guy sitting on the trunk of a tree at one of the usual stops on the West Arm Road. I thought, hey, a bug with a pink neck, how cool. When I found out it was a firefly, it kind of took the magical summer night image away. Oh well.

Phidippus borealis

Finding a jumping spider isn't the easiest, but last week when we were out trying to relocate a tiny green orb weaver in a boggy area just off the West Arm Road, B , who has an uncanny ability to spot these little guys, found this one. I was thrilled as this is the largest jumping spider that we have in SK.

Powdered Bigwing - Lobophora nivigerata

I love cryptic moths. It's amazing how well they blend in. It was cool and rainy the other day when I found this one in the yard on a poplar tree. It almost seemed sluggish which was a good thing for getting pics.