Bugs in the snow

"There's a snow flea!"

One of many, many little snow fleas

In honour of spring's arrival accompanied by a LOT of snow I thought I would post about a little something that has captured Abby's attention over the past few weeks. With the coming of warmer weather and melting snow the snow flea has been out in force. Our walks and playtimes outside have become searches for snow fleas (a species of dark blue springtail) and for the somewhat bigger snow scorpionfly. Of course this means that a walk down our driveway takes at least half an hour instead of six minutes (yes it's a long driveway, especially with an inquisitive two year old) so we need to allow for a lot of extra time to get anywhere and sometimes mommy gets a bit tired of seeing yet another snow flea. But I love to see Abby so interested in what's happening around her.

The slightly larger snow scorpionfly

Somehow I managed to live most of my life in Northern Ontario without ever hearing about bugs in the snow. I always thought I was pretty observant and paid attention to details but somehow these tiny creatures escaped my notice. Snow fleas and scorpionflies come out on warm days, almost as if they are climbing out of the snow to avoid the moisture that is collecting down below as the snow melts. I did a bit of reading about snow fleas but most of it wasn't terribly interesting until I found this cool snow flea blog. Apparently it's a good thing to see snow fleas because it means you have healthy soil. (Very cool.) They are also being studied to see if organs waiting for transplant can be stored at colder temperatures without freezing just like these little guys can survive at such cold temperatures. (Even cooler.) The snow scorpionflies are insects which are so well adapted to the cold that holding one in your hand would kill it. I'm glad to know that as Abby is always wanting to pick them up and bring them inside! So far we've only been able to pick them up along with a handful of snow but now we won't try to bring one home in our bare hands.
Neither of these bugs will bite. They just jump around and look neat. So if you've never noticed them before keep your eyes open over the next few weeks as the snow melts (if you still have snow) and see if you can spot either of them.