The weather is finally starting to warm up (not that we couldn’t end up with more cold before winter’s over) and it has me really missing my spiders and insects. Mosquitos and cockroaches, I could do without, but most of the rest of them I find fascinating. Like most people, I especially miss the colorful ones like dragonflies, butterflies, and many of the beetles. It’s still a bit early in the year for these guys yet, but it won’t be long now. Since I’ve been missing them, I thought I’d share this image of a male blue dasher (Pachydiplax longipennis) taken near the end of last fall. If you’re at all familiar with these guys you’ll notice that this one is a very faded blue, indicating that he is getting old. He was probably one of the last generation of 2024 and their numbers were definitely declining at the time I took this shot. Before long we will have more, brightly colored ones buzzing all over the place, but until then I’ll have to be satisfied with this old man.

Do you miss insects this time of year?