"Attracted to light"

August 9th, Campbell River. 9:45 PM. The sunset had faded and we had returned to our motel room in the dark. We settled down to read until bedtime. Then a tiny speck of white wandered across the table in front of Laurie. He called me over; at first I couldn't see what he was pointing at. It was so tiny, almost transparent, blending in perfectly to the blond wood tabletop.

Once I'd seen it, capturing it was easy; it walked on its own straight into my little bottle. I went for the camera.

Now there was a problem. The motel didn't come equipped with movable lighting. Nor had I brought my usual lamps. And flash with a white bug just doesn't work. But I remembered that Laurie had a tiny dollar-store flashlight; maybe if I got it close enough to the critter, it would work.

Again, my subject was co-operative. Released from captivity and deposited on a paper towel in front of the flashlight, it walked right up to the glass, and sat on the rim.

The rim is 2 mm. wide, which makes the fly about 2.25 mm long.

Such a pale, hairy little beastie! With black feet and dotted-line antennae.

It's a moth fly, in the Family Psychodidae, subfamily Psychodinae. I've looked through all BugGuide's photos and didn't find one with this wing pattern, but everything else matches.

I have found one of this family at home in Delta, but it was much darker:

The same size, shape, and hairiness. The same cute antennae.

Interesting notes from BugGuide:

• Moth flies (Psychodinae): adults ... are attracted to light;
• adults feed in polluted water and on flower nectar;
• ... very weak fliers, covering only a few feet at a time in short erratic flights. Outside, they can be blown considerable distances by the wind.
• They lay their eggs in the gelatinous film that coats the inside of drains, especially in bathtubs and showers;
• the larvae feed on algae, fungi and bacteria in sewage and organic sludge.

More detailed information here.

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Reminder: Rock Flipping Day is Sunday, September 9th. Instructions, history, etc.

In a bowl of rocks; International Rock Flipping Day 2010

What kind of example am I? Reminding everybody to get out there and flip rocks on Sunday, and then sneaking out myself on Saturday, when it was convenient; is that right? Is it fair?

It isn't. So I redeemed myself by going out in the rain on Sunday -- a quick dash to bring in a bowl of rocks and put it on my desk.

Somehow, rocks always come home with me. Flat, round rocks that look like cookies, translucent rocks, rocks with strange insertions, red rocks, patterned rocks, heart-shaped rocks, rocks full of glassy crystals; I pick them up, look at them, and they find their way into my pocket.

At home, some end up holding down the soil in flower pots, some sit in the bird bath; most end up drifting around until they end up in a battered aluminum bowl that belonged to my mother when I was a kid. Usually, it sits in the garden. This is what I brought in.

It was raining, and the rocks were wet. I didn't expect to find much more than a slug or two. But there were more critters than rocks.

"Potato" rock.

Of course, there were a couple of slugs. This one sleeps in a clam shell, beside a pile of his own poop.

An ordinary grove snail, but with intriguing patterns carved into the shell.  And look at his companion!

This spider is tiny. I couldn't make out what she was carrying until I saw the photos.

Plenty of sowbugs; smooth ones, like this, and  ...

... textured one, like this one, captured wandering around the rim of the bowl.

Many tiny spiders dashed away as I removed the rocks, one by one. I caught this one rappelling his way down a rock face.

And landing safely on a rock below.

Turning to face his tormentor.

These were about the size of small fruit flies. But I have no idea what they are. One for BugGuide.

Another one. Hairy little critter.

*Update: Christopher Taylor identifies these flies as Psychodidae, otherwise known as "Moth flies" or "drain flies". They like damp organic matter.

On one of the lower, wetter rocks, an earthworm. I love how the twisting intestine shows through the skin.

And another tiny snail, a relative of the 2-millimetre snails from last year's RFD.

And there were two red things; a tiny mite, too small and too fast for me, and a fat, deep red, round-bellied thing, about 3 or 4 mm long, that I saw twice, racing into cover. I looked through all the rocks for it several times and never found it again.

And now my conscience is clear.