Sunday 18 February 2018

Old Dog, new trick

I have seen these so often that I think now I should retire my title of being an observer! It started this way, this morning.


Evidently, some old dogs get lost, sad.

There was a light dusting of snow this morning. And on our walk, I saw, several saw the grey-black dust on the snow. Only I thought that it was from a dirty atmosphere. Instead, Carol took out her magnifying glass and looked at - snow fleas or Springtails, technically not insects! - beyond me.




These animals are alive - one burrowed out of sight while I was trying to focus on it. They are quite small, but very very numerous - as black specks on white snow. I have seen this "phenomenon" many times without "thinking" twice about it. However, they have a bag of tricks and are scientifically/medically very interesting. My bias and prejudice exposed for me to see myself.

Springtail

a wiser old bird! (maybe?)

3 comments:

  1. Great photos.
    V.

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  2. Thanks - thank Carol for stopping to point out something that fantastic. Orillia Naturalists.

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  3. Glad you were excited by springtails. If you go to the ONC web page, find of the month, you can see that they were a "find" in March 2013, with photos in snow and in water. And a discussion of their life cycle, and role in ecology. Nice photos. Nancy I

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