Bringing my last loads of firewood to the front porch to prepare for spring cleaning. I love finding the little critters that have been hiding under logs and boards all winter. Actually, many of them have been a few inches below the surface and have only recently returned to their summer homes beneath or inside the decaying logs and bark. My first discovery of the day was the beetle above. Slow-moving, I believe it's in the Family Tenebrionidae that includes the Darkling Beetles.
Under a rotting 2x6, I found these two large earthworms and two pill bugs. It was pretty cold and damp, so they weren't moving at all. I decided to move one into the sun for a few photos.
It immediately tried to escape from the heat and stretched out to nearly a foot in length, which is just what I wanted. After a few photos, I returned it to a damp and shady spot where it will probably start a family.
The pill bugs are showing up. Soon they'll be accompanied by their close relatives, the sow bugs. The latter are not able to curl up into a closed ball, but otherwise look pretty similar to pill bugs.
A pair of Flat-backed Millipedes. That's a category, not a species. Millipedes have two pairs of legs on each body segment, and they move very slowly while testing the ground ahead with their antennae. They are not poisonous. Centipedes are also active now and they will be featured here soon. I saw quite a few on yesterday's hike while photographing tree stumps. Some were in close proximity to termites which made me wonder if they were dining on them. Might need a hidden camera to find out.
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