Insect Watch by Bernie Paquette

Folks ask me "Where do you find beautiful insects like the ones you post on iNaturalist?"

First, my short answer is “Where you look is what you will see.” Just as in birding, when inverting one can wander about or simply find a comfortable spot to sit and watch what comes to you. Both work for me. 

Helpful are temperatures above fifty degrees Fahrenheit (10 Celsius) and in a sunlit spot. Native flowers (as well as some non-natives) in the area are of course a draw for insects as are appropriate nesting areas for each particular species. 

For example, Maeve and I recently visited Niquette Bay State Park in Colchester, Vermont. On April 26 there were many ephemerals blooming, drawing mining bees, cuckoo bees, and hoverflies. We observed at least one 'Comma butterfly', one 'Cabbage white' butterfly, and a Red-necked False Blister Beetle feeding on ephemerals. 

Almost no natural area is free of interesting insects. After our lunch break at a picnic table in the entrance area, I wandered slowly along the short-growing grassy and sandy area (no ephemerals there so it is ok to walk in that off-the-trail area) looking for native bees that nest in the sand. Sure enough, I quickly spotted a few likely either searching for a nest site or males looking for females. 

One reason someone might see fewer insects than I do is that they are not accustomed to looking for quite small creatures and their quick movements. That comes about once you start intentionally looking for these small to tiny life forms. 

After Maeve and I finished exploring some of the trails of the park, we both settled in our own chosen spot and absorbed the quiet, the beauty, and any critters that came our way. Maeve was visited by numerous birds including a nearly at hand Brown Creeper. While I sat a few hundred yards away on the edge of one pathway observing insects exploring their grocery store. Sometimes when a few minutes passed without seeing any insects I considered moving along. However, with just a little more patient sitting, I observed more insects in the area I was observing. 

Similarly, on a recent hike about Mobbs Farm Trails, I found a fallen pine that sat just the right height to make the perfect chair for me. Within a few minutes, I could hear a blue-headed vireo, chickadees, pine warbler, titmouse, winter wren, hairy woodpecker, junco, red-breasted nuthatch, white-throated sparrow, downy woodpecker, and a ruby-crowned kinglet - all within ten minutes. 

Five minutes later it was quiet again. Then I spotted solitary (native) miner bees each digging a nest to lay eggs which she will tend to on her own, yet never see them hatch. 

There is no place like home. So pick a spot in your backyard, in your favorite park, or in the woods where a gap in the tree canopy allows a spotlight of sun to reach the forest floor. Where you look is what you will see.

Both tiny ephemerals and insects offer minute details that when observed closely freeze time and all outward distractions suspending you in time and place. 

See a sequence of the mining bee building a nest on my iNat post bee one and bee two. More here. 

View photos from our Niquette Bay Park walk (see photos with observed date of 4/26/2024).

Inverting is the new birding.

Why not try them both while enjoying the ephemerals as well. 

GOT A QUESTION ABOUT INSECTS - Ask the Inverter.