Snow fleas are shown next to a hand held compass for scale. Each snow flea is about 1/16 of an inch long.
We’ve got fleas!
(Snow fleas that is)
While walking through a Sullivan County forest recently, I saw some fine black dust on the snow, especially in depressions like deer tracks, etc. A closer look revealed not dust, but thousands of tiny insects, about 1/16th of an inch long, crawling and sometimes hopping on the snow with apparent immunity to the cold and snow. I had just encountered a bunch of snow fleas.
—Snuffy Smith (a cartoon character drawn by Al Capp)
In a short time, trout fishers will emerge from their caves, yawn and rub their eyes and greet a new day. For New Yorkers, the trout season is less than a month away. Be sure to read the fishing regulations regarding tributaries to the Delaware River. Several of these are not open to fishing until Pennsylvania’s opening day, which is Saturday, April 12.
