Ebony jewelwing, one of the largest damselflies.
Craneflies are a primitive member of Diptera, which contains all of the flies. I think that there are about 1000 species in Michigan and the Great Lakes states.
Just because it’s time to see more insects doesn’t mean that I stop looking at other things. This is a nice little “slime mold.”
These are all male Whitetails., which are dragonflies The one in the middle is the oldest, the one at the bottom is the youngest.
Close to the Whitetails, we were seen a tremendous number of maidenhair ferns.
And in the dark understory of the forest we found a flowering orchid – puttyroot. This is usually the first orchid that we see in Michigan in January, when only the leaves are present. Now, only the flower stalks are visible, soon to be replaced by seed heads.
A delightful little Carex, which is superficially similar to grasses.
A member of the diverse flower fly family.
A Golden-backed snipe fly, which is a small fly, but quite distinctive.
Susan photographing a Golden-backed snipe fly, which is impossible to see in the photo.
More tomorrow…
Michael's Place 
How can you tell the age of the white tails? Length and color of abdominal segments?
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The younger males have an abdomen that’s very similar to the females. Older males have a bluish abdomen.
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