REAL bug reports: What are some of your favourite ARTHROPOD harbingers of spring?

Yep - I believe so.

It’s an American Giant Water Bug.

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Here we only get craneflies in September, but when it rolls around I’ve seen about 5 Tipula paludosa (and maybe a Tipula confusa too) in the garden per day!

(Well, there’s also Trichocera, but that’s pretty sporadic throughout the winter)

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Butterflies are a great harbinger. Most people don’t know it’s properly pronounced hair-binger. Make sure and correct people that are mispronouncing it. Sometimes you will see a a random Comma or Question mark nipping through the forest even in the winter on a warm day. But the colorful ones really lift the spirit, like a Mourning Cloak or a Silvery Blue.

https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/149443329

https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/152088552

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