How to Watch Insects
Find the insects., Move on to the backyard., Keep an eye out for insects during your daily routine., Be sure to check out insect life at different times of the day., Be sensible., Choose a small area to observe., Make yourself comfortable., Improve...
Step-by-Step Guide
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Step 1: Find the insects.
To begin with, there are likely to be insects in your house.
What types are they and what are they doing? There are insects invested in using your house as a source of food, shelter and breeding, and learning more about them can set your mind at ease about the presence of insects.
And if you happen to discover insects that are better off not being in your home, you'll be in a position to do something constructive about their removal! -
Step 2: Move on to the backyard.
Your backyard will be a wonderful playground for a variety of insects, such as ants, bees, flies, dragonflies, butterflies, beetles, bugs and more.
Look everywhere, including on the grass and plants, under leaves, on your house walls, under the house, in the shed, on pavement, in the dirt, etc. , There is a potential to find insects everywhere you go.
Even where there are no mammals (apart from humans) or birds, there are bound to be some insects, as they're tenacious and in massive numbers.
Visit the park to find insects in similar places as your backyard.
Check out the trees, shrubs and weeds growing along street-scapes.
Look down around your feet as you walk about.
Check the walls and ceilings of buildings you enter.
Check the sand at the beach, the water of a pond, the sides of a riverbank, the ground of a forest, etc. whenever you are visiting such places.
Insects abound everywhere.
Check spider's webs; there are often dead insects to be spotted here! , Some insects prefer the day, some the night.
Some prefer early morning, some prefer the evening.
Some are easier to see when there is no light, such as fireflies or other glowing insects. , Observing a mound of ants that sting or hanging around wasps or bees in a frenzy is not a good idea at all.
Always keep a safe distance from insects that can cause you harm, and if you have allergies to any insects, use common sense and either don't watch those insects or watch them from somewhere safe, such as behind a window of your house. , If you try to watch insects in too large an area, you'll only see the biggest of insects and it'll soon seem a bit dull.
Zoom in on a single area, whether it's the ground, the trunk of a tree, on leaves, under a plant, etc. , Find some insects or an area of insects that you'd like to observe.
Set yourself up for a time, making your sitting or lying area comfortable for you.
You might like to sit in a low chair (such as those used at the beach) or lie on a rug or tarpaulin, to keep you clean and away from the cold of the soil. , Purchase a good quality magnifying glass (around 5 to 10x) and use this to bring the smaller insects into focus.
If you can't see what the smaller insects are doing, watch their activity through the magnifying glass.
Always take care not to accidentally concentrate sunlight through a magnifying glass onto an insect, as this could burn the insect.
Give your eyes a break now and then; staring through a magnifying glass for long periods of time can tire your eyes. , If you're watching insects at night, many are attracted to light, which makes it easy to get the insects to come to you.
Set up a lamp, a flashlight or some other source of light (even the porch light will work, which is great if your comfy chair is already there) and watch the insects gravitate to the light.
If you can change the wavelength of the light, you'll get different insects.
Change the bulbs to blue, red, yellow, etc. and observe what happens to the insects.
Blacklight will attract many insects, so if you have one, give it a try too; hang it against a white sheet from the clothesline. , To begin with, it doesn't matter if you don't know what the insects are or what they're doing, just watch them and learn.
The more you observe, the more curious you'll become to find out what they are and what they're up to. , These can help you to learn more about the type of insects you're observing and the things that are known about them.
Purchase your own insect field guide.
Choose one that is local to your area, so that it accounts for the insects where you are. , You can observe "flower visitors"
for example, at regularly set times of the day, under different conditions and begin to piece together patterns of visiting insects.This could even lead to scientific observing, depending on how dedicated you want to become. , Perhaps you'd like to keep an insect watching notebook that you take along with you when watching the insects, or you could record the information on your smartphone or other digital device.
However you choose to keep notes, here are some things that you might like to record:
The type(s) of insects The features you can see, such as size or shape of the head, jaws, amount of legs, antennae, carapace, wings, etc.
The colors, variations, patterns, distinctive markings, etc. that you can see (and whether you see different species of the same insect, such as flies, mosquitoes or ants, showing different colors, sizes, patterns, etc.) What the insects are doing, such as feeding, marching, flying about, mating, fighting, pouncing on prey, etc.
What their home looks like (if you can find it) The interactions between the same species of insect and with other insects; record whether any non-insect animal is feasting on the insects, being irritated by them, or interacting with them in some way The time of day, the temperature, the place, etc.
What plants are around the insects.
This can be important for knowing what attracts the insects, which plants shelter insects and which plants they avoid. , If you like sketching and feel comfortable with it, consider making sketches of the insects you're watching, in your notebook.
These can help with future identification and make a good record of what you've seen. , This will allow you to keep a visual record of the insects and their environment.
It will also allow you to share your photographs with people online, if you wish.
Insect photography is quite an art, so you will also need to learn how to take photos of small creatures, taking into account movement, camouflage, and tiny size.
If something interesting happens with the insects, be sure to catch it in a photo or video.
You could post your video or photos on social media. -
Step 3: Keep an eye out for insects during your daily routine.
-
Step 4: Be sure to check out insect life at different times of the day.
-
Step 5: Be sensible.
-
Step 6: Choose a small area to observe.
-
Step 7: Make yourself comfortable.
-
Step 8: Improve your ability to see the insects.
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Step 9: Use light.
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Step 10: Simply watch the insects go about their business for a time.
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Step 11: Consider borrowing some library books or checking online sites about insects.
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Step 12: As you advance in your insect watching
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Step 13: you can get more sophisticated in what you record.
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Step 14: Take notes of your observations.
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Step 15: Take sketches of the insects.
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Step 16: Take photographs of the insects.
Detailed Guide
To begin with, there are likely to be insects in your house.
What types are they and what are they doing? There are insects invested in using your house as a source of food, shelter and breeding, and learning more about them can set your mind at ease about the presence of insects.
And if you happen to discover insects that are better off not being in your home, you'll be in a position to do something constructive about their removal!
Your backyard will be a wonderful playground for a variety of insects, such as ants, bees, flies, dragonflies, butterflies, beetles, bugs and more.
Look everywhere, including on the grass and plants, under leaves, on your house walls, under the house, in the shed, on pavement, in the dirt, etc. , There is a potential to find insects everywhere you go.
Even where there are no mammals (apart from humans) or birds, there are bound to be some insects, as they're tenacious and in massive numbers.
Visit the park to find insects in similar places as your backyard.
Check out the trees, shrubs and weeds growing along street-scapes.
Look down around your feet as you walk about.
Check the walls and ceilings of buildings you enter.
Check the sand at the beach, the water of a pond, the sides of a riverbank, the ground of a forest, etc. whenever you are visiting such places.
Insects abound everywhere.
Check spider's webs; there are often dead insects to be spotted here! , Some insects prefer the day, some the night.
Some prefer early morning, some prefer the evening.
Some are easier to see when there is no light, such as fireflies or other glowing insects. , Observing a mound of ants that sting or hanging around wasps or bees in a frenzy is not a good idea at all.
Always keep a safe distance from insects that can cause you harm, and if you have allergies to any insects, use common sense and either don't watch those insects or watch them from somewhere safe, such as behind a window of your house. , If you try to watch insects in too large an area, you'll only see the biggest of insects and it'll soon seem a bit dull.
Zoom in on a single area, whether it's the ground, the trunk of a tree, on leaves, under a plant, etc. , Find some insects or an area of insects that you'd like to observe.
Set yourself up for a time, making your sitting or lying area comfortable for you.
You might like to sit in a low chair (such as those used at the beach) or lie on a rug or tarpaulin, to keep you clean and away from the cold of the soil. , Purchase a good quality magnifying glass (around 5 to 10x) and use this to bring the smaller insects into focus.
If you can't see what the smaller insects are doing, watch their activity through the magnifying glass.
Always take care not to accidentally concentrate sunlight through a magnifying glass onto an insect, as this could burn the insect.
Give your eyes a break now and then; staring through a magnifying glass for long periods of time can tire your eyes. , If you're watching insects at night, many are attracted to light, which makes it easy to get the insects to come to you.
Set up a lamp, a flashlight or some other source of light (even the porch light will work, which is great if your comfy chair is already there) and watch the insects gravitate to the light.
If you can change the wavelength of the light, you'll get different insects.
Change the bulbs to blue, red, yellow, etc. and observe what happens to the insects.
Blacklight will attract many insects, so if you have one, give it a try too; hang it against a white sheet from the clothesline. , To begin with, it doesn't matter if you don't know what the insects are or what they're doing, just watch them and learn.
The more you observe, the more curious you'll become to find out what they are and what they're up to. , These can help you to learn more about the type of insects you're observing and the things that are known about them.
Purchase your own insect field guide.
Choose one that is local to your area, so that it accounts for the insects where you are. , You can observe "flower visitors"
for example, at regularly set times of the day, under different conditions and begin to piece together patterns of visiting insects.This could even lead to scientific observing, depending on how dedicated you want to become. , Perhaps you'd like to keep an insect watching notebook that you take along with you when watching the insects, or you could record the information on your smartphone or other digital device.
However you choose to keep notes, here are some things that you might like to record:
The type(s) of insects The features you can see, such as size or shape of the head, jaws, amount of legs, antennae, carapace, wings, etc.
The colors, variations, patterns, distinctive markings, etc. that you can see (and whether you see different species of the same insect, such as flies, mosquitoes or ants, showing different colors, sizes, patterns, etc.) What the insects are doing, such as feeding, marching, flying about, mating, fighting, pouncing on prey, etc.
What their home looks like (if you can find it) The interactions between the same species of insect and with other insects; record whether any non-insect animal is feasting on the insects, being irritated by them, or interacting with them in some way The time of day, the temperature, the place, etc.
What plants are around the insects.
This can be important for knowing what attracts the insects, which plants shelter insects and which plants they avoid. , If you like sketching and feel comfortable with it, consider making sketches of the insects you're watching, in your notebook.
These can help with future identification and make a good record of what you've seen. , This will allow you to keep a visual record of the insects and their environment.
It will also allow you to share your photographs with people online, if you wish.
Insect photography is quite an art, so you will also need to learn how to take photos of small creatures, taking into account movement, camouflage, and tiny size.
If something interesting happens with the insects, be sure to catch it in a photo or video.
You could post your video or photos on social media.
About the Author
Brenda Turner
Committed to making lifestyle accessible and understandable for everyone.
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