Some interesting insects to look for before winter

You may see American ladies flying around during the last warm days before winter, when they will be gone. (Photo courtesy Maine Audubon by Jocelyn LaClair)

With temperatures rapidly dropping, daylight hours getting shorter and impending winter conditions approaching, I wanted to use this column to point out a few animals that won’t be around much longer: some insects.

These ectothermic (relying on external sources of heat) invertebrates don’t fare too well in freezing temperatures, but there are a few pretty interesting ones to be on the lookout for before this window closes.

First up, I should mention some of the most commonly encountered, abundant and recognizable insects. The non-native Asian lady beetle is a red and black beetle; these have been around all summer, but tend to have a spike in detections in the fall as they look for warm places to spend the winter. Cold nights trigger these movements, and they are especially fond of entering human dwellings for a warmer reprieve.

The other insect you’ll find sneaking inside is the western conifer seed bug, often mistaken for a “stinkbug” because of the pungent smell it produces after being disturbed. The western conifer seed bugs are a reddish brown color and are in the family Coreidae, the “leaf-footed bugs” that have flat leaf-like sections on their hind legs. Note also that they are not a “beetle” in the order Coleoptera (like the Asian lady beetle) because they don’t have the hardened wing casings that beetles uniquely do.

Speaking of things with cool wings, most of our Lepidoptera, the scaly-winged insects, better known as butterflies and moths, are soon to be gone. During these last warm days, you may see butterflies like clouded sulphur (mostly yellow) and American ladies (mostly orange with spots) flying around. We do have some November records of monarchs in Maine, but flowers will be hard to come by for any pollinators needing sustenance at that point.

Another lepidopteran to look for has one of my favorite names in the animal kingdom: Bruce spanworm. This native moth has an interesting approach to successful reproduction — it waits until there aren’t many threats around. As it gets cold in November, and very few predators of moths are around (bats have migrated or begun hibernating), the adult males will take advantage of a warm night to have large flights in search of females. The females, which are actually flightless, wait at the tips of a host tree limb. They attract males with a seductive pheromone. Unfortunately, there is also a non-native species of moth that does the same thing, the winter moth. These are very similar species, both in the genus Operophtera, and cannot be visually distinguished. You’d need to dissect them to actually tell them apart.

Not an insect, but an arachnid worth mentioning is the dreaded eastern black-legged tick. These blood suckers are paradoxically one animal you don’t want to see … unless it’s on you, and then you do before it digs into your skin. Adults are especially active in fall with their biggest spike in activity in October, so despite many invertebrates being inactive, you should keep doing tick checks after spending time outdoors.

The last plug I have to make, which is also a good way to avoid getting ticks, is to leave your leaves on the ground. Those leaves will provide important nutrients for the soil and shelter for many beloved animals, from wood frogs to woolly bear caterpillars (aka Isabella tiger moths). So drop the rake and kick your feet up, or grab your binoculars and spend that time outside looking for late butterflies and migrating birds. The snow will be here soon (northern Maine has already seen flurries), so enjoy the fall days and help your backyard wildlife at the same time.

Have you got a nature or wildlife question of your own? It doesn’t have to be about birds! Email questions to [email protected] and visit www.maineaudubon.org to learn more about birding, native plants, and programs and events focusing on Maine wildlife and habitat. Maine Audubon Staff Naturalist Doug Hitchcox and other naturalists lead free bird walks on Thursday mornings starting at 7 am, at Maine Audubon’s Gilsland Farm Audubon Sanctuary in Falmouth.

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