Life On A Quarter Acre

Outside of screen door.

Found on inside of kitchen window. 9 mm

On window sill

Fell into my morning coffee while sitting on the porch. 8 mm

Found entering and leaving holes (probably made by horntails) in a dead spruce tree. 8 mm

Ovipositing on a dead spruce tree.

On inside of window. 7 mm

Body length 2.2 mm

Ovipositing on same dead spruce tree that male Xeris and Giant Ichneumonids have been seen on in the last week or so.

On a dead or dying spruce tree

Another Ichneumon trying to oviposit on the same dead spruce tree in our backyard. Yesterday a Western Giant Ichneumonid (Megarhyssa nortoni) oviposited on the same tree. (https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/364503922)

On snowberry leaf

UV light trap

UV light trap

UV light trap

UV light trap

UV light trap

UV light trap

UV light trap

UV light trap

From a golden currant bush

Under a board.

First Lewis Flax flower of the year.

First flowers of the year.

hanging from a thread in the yard. 6 mm

In house

Malaise trap, 5 mm

Malaise trap, 1 mm

Malaise trap, 4 mm

Malaise trap, 2 mm

Malaise trap, 6 mm

Malaise trap, 6 mm

Malaise trap. 3 mm

Malaise trap, 4 mm

Malaise Trap. length 2 mm.

Malaise trap, 4.5 mm

Malaise trap, ~1.5 mm

Malaise Trap, forewing length 7 mm

Malaise trap from May 5-6, 2026

6 mm

On inside of front door window.

Malaise trap. 17 mm

Yesterday (May 2) had the first open flowers.

On compost

Hanging on thread. 6 mm

On inside of garage window shade. Length 6 mm.

Emerged today from soil sample collected earlier

Folded within a choke cherry leaf.

This observation is of the egg that was placed by a cutworm wasp on the caterpillar.

This cutworm was dragged to cutworm wasp (Podalonia sp.) nest. I dug up the caterpillar after the wasp laid an egg and had finished filling and covering the hole. I\'ve put the caterpillar with the egg in a sand-filled container for rearing.

I watched this wasp dig a nest for a half hour or so. \r\n\r\nAfter completing the nest, she retrieved a cutworm that she had previously paralyzed and cached several cm above the ground on a plant stem 2.5 m from the burrow.\r\n\r\nThe wasp carried h ...

Collected from saskatoon flowers. 4 mm

Collected from Saskatoon flowers. \r\n4 mm

Found on bathroom floor.

On April 9, I found a piece of a log on the ground with what looked like a Tiger Swallowtail pupa on it. I put it in an aquarium to see what might emerge. (iNat obs)\r\n\r\nOn May 28, I noticed this square-headed snakefly in the aquarium. It seems to ...

On front porch

Caterpillar being dragged into Podalonia burrow.

Emerged today from spider egg sacs collected on 18 March 26. \r\n4 mm

Collected from front garden. Length 18 mm

5 mm

I watched this wasp dig a burrow, drag a caterpillar to and into the nest, and then cover up the nest so it was completely invisible. The entire process lasted about an hour.

Under rock, ~ 3mm

Emerged today from spider egg sacs collected on 18 March 26. 5 mm

Found in bathtub. Body length 8 mm

Front porch

Another female emerged today from spider egg sacs collected on 18 Mar 26.

Emerged on April 9 from spider egg sacs collected on 18 March. 5 mm

Emerged from spider egg sacs collected on 18 Mar 26. 5 mm

On side of shed

On side of shed

Inside the shed

Front porch

About a dozen of these emerged yesterday from spider egg sacs or mantid egg cases collected on March 17. 5 mm

UV light trap

On compost pile

Inside of front door. 9 mm

Front porch

Climbing up wall on front porch. 10 mm. I timed it\'s movement up the wall. It climbed 6 cm in 8 minutes. (7.5 mm/min)

On porch

On porch

On side of shed

On side of shed

On side of shed

On inside window sill

On inside of window. 3 mm

~ 3.5 mm

5 mm

First bee I\'ve seen in the yard this year.

On side of shed

Front porch

Found crawling up the side of the shed.

On side of shed

On front porch

On the shed.

Front porch

Front porch

Front porch

First open flower.

Outside front door. ~ 3 mm

Under brick.

On inside of front door. ~ 3 mm

In the kitchen

On front porch

On side of shed. 2.2 mm

Scraping wood fibers from broom handle on porch

Emerged from spider egg sac that was collected in my yard on 28 Jan 2026. Several dozen spiderlings hatched a few days before the wasp. Length ~ 4 mm

In kitchen sink

Emerged from spider egg sac collected on 28 Jan 26. 5 mm

I collected an egg sac from under a rock in my yard on 26 Jan 26. Today I noticed that about 100 spiderlings have had hatched. ~ 2 mm

On side of shed

First flowers in the yard.

On outside front door. 4 mm

On front porch wall.

Side of shed.

On side of shed. ~ 5 mm.

Under log. 15 mm.

On side of shed. 5 mm.

Inside house

On bark of firewood. Diameter of cup ~ 0.5 mm.

12 cm diameter. Ice on top.

Total width 4 mm.\nOn a decomposing apple leaf.