I don’t have much rotting wood around here to break into. Any other suggestions where I can find more little critters?
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Flip over rocks or other objects lying around. That’s what I like to do. I think it kind of depends on where you live, but this works a lot for me.
I usually can find ground beetles, and a variety of insect larva.
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Where in the world are you and what sort of insects would you like to find?
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Depends a lot on where you are and what kind of insects you’re looking for. Lots of different baits attract insects by scent (nectar, flowers, dung/compost, etc.), as will food sources (Just beware of the potential consequences. This is how you get ants, as they say). A light trap works well for moths and other nocturnal insects (bright light on a white sheet).
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The majority of what I find, I find at night, just by looking, basically anywhere, but especially on leaves. If you havent been able to look at night, and you can, that will often increase chances by being out when more is active.
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I personally try to not break into rotting wood, that pretty much destroys habitat for a lot of critters. I’ll flip logs and rocks and gently put them back, which is disruptive but more recoverable.
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Most people don’t look under mushroom caps/on the underside of shelf mushrooms/inside of oyster and lion’s mane mushrooms. That’s usually a good way to find fungus-eating beetles like Erotylidae, Staphylinidae, and Nitidulidae.
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You can use a bug catching net. Every time I use it, I catch insects I have never seen before.
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Checking out diurnal flowers usually yields some pollinating insects (though not always depending on species/season)
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I find open areas to have more insects as it is warmer in direct sun, but this is in a colder climate (I’m listening to the wind whip snow against the window right now)
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I’m on a rural mountaintop in Haiti. It’s been badly deforested and any rotting wood has been picked up for firewood. We’ve been fallowing some land for a few years now and reforesting but we still have a ways to go. Mostly I just want to find out what’s out there.
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Where I am from deforested often means more insects, especially ants, there are 152 species of ants recorded from the island of Hispaniola, and that is probably an under count, so I don’t think you have any shortage of insects in deforested area. I usually find insects on the ground and on low plants in open areas. sometimes I seek out disturbed areas as they are more open, I found a rare ant species in a park that just had construction done.
Flowers are another good place to look for insects
If you have trouble finding them I suspect that is due to it being winter
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Go out at different times during the year, some species of bees are active in the early seasons that aren’t out later in the summer for example. There’s even a few winter species.
Look at flowers hanging upside-down. I have a bunch that like ground cherries in my area that are very hard to find without inspecting those flowers.
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I am on the Yucatán Peninsula. I find a lot of insects by looking on the undersides of leaves and by watching to see where there are ants, which tend the juveniles of many hoppers.
I also find a lot by being very methodical, taking one plant and systematically looking over it carefully, including within the folds of new leaves, where sometimes small insects seem to nestle.
I come to the same plant at multiple times of day so that I get to know the whole ecosystem of a plant, who visits at what time, who makes their home there, who is dependent on a plant for laying eggs, etc.
I find waking up very early helps me spot bees that only fly in low light and sometimes I can even find snoozing bees.
I find if I let my eyes move too quickly over things I seem to see nothing. I hope this is helpful. Good luck!
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Since getting a macro lens, I found a lot of fairly small to tiny insects nestled in the centers of flowers. These would have been all but invisible to me before.
Look at the underside of leaves to see what you can find.
If you have a yard/porch/front-door light you leave on all night, check it before you go to bed. Or maybe first thing in the morning.
Do you have nearby lakes, ponds, streams, etc? Look for insects on top of the water (skimmers) and those that might be swimming around in the water (divers). Some insects spend their early life stages in water. I’ve found insects on lily pads.
Bridges over creeks can be good, too. Especially early in the morning.
I visited a naturalist event for macroinvertebrates. She said to take a small net (like you might use for a fish tank) and swish it around in the vegetation along a lake shore or fishing pier. Then empty that net in a small bucket of lake water and look for things swimming around. She transferred some of those critters in the bucket into shallow trays to make it easier to see. You can see my observations from that event here: https://www.inaturalist.org/observations?on=2023-08-08&q=interpretive%20event&user_id=mmmiller&verifiable=any
When I want to focus on insects and spiders, I just find any place with plants and walk real slow so I can scan things I might miss were I walking faster. I tend to focus on wild plants (whether native or invasive) but we have a cultivated flower garden near me that attracts a ton of pollinators (and plant eaters) so cultivated plants can be a good place to look.
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I recently experienced the use of fermented shrimp juice as an attractant for butterflies. The concoction is made of blended shrimp in water that is allowed to sit for a few days. It is then strained to remove particulates and applied on plants in the sun to bring in the butterflies and get them to sit still for photos. It smelled terrible but was effective at bringing in butterflies and a lot of flies. It apparently works best in area where nitrogen soil levels are low. I was told you can also use fish and urine.
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I agree with searching at night! It’s amazing how many insects are nocturnally active, and I find they’re often easier to spot under torchlight too. Light sheets are quick and easy to set up, and extremely effective too
Using a decent torch at night is a really good way to find nocturnal spiders, moths and sometimes even beetles. If you crouch down and slowly scan an open area you’ll probably be surprised by how many little eye shines you can spot, and how bright some of them are. This is especially useful for spiders that are highly camouflaged and/or dwell in leaf litter. If you have trouble with flying insects swarming your torch, a red filter will help. Even just a piece of red cellophane held on with a rubber band makes a huge difference, and as a bonus helps reduce eye strain
Another thing I havent seen mentioned yet is collecting and sieving leaf litter, mulch or loose topsoil. Put simply, use a coarse sieve/mesh etc to seperate the larger litter from the finer litter, then spread the fine sample in a broad tray and see what starts moving about
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Do you have any advice about this? Is it a brush sweeping kinda net or just catching things you see flying around?
If you could set up a light trap of some kind or pitfall trap that might be worth checking out. Maybe even baiting some trees
I think a solution that works kinda everywhere on the globe is to looking under rocks :)
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/241832004
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/242514891
I’ve been looking under a rock when I’ve found this pretty unobserved lifer so… who knows what you’ll find?
It’s a double win if you’re also looking for earthworms, snails, and other crawling stuff ;)
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