It looks like a thaw is genuinely with us, and though it's still below freezing at night—no chance of going without a fire—the temperature reached up into the 40s, and that made me wonder: would there be any insects stirring? So, instead of carrying the Fuji, which, of course, is light and does a surprisingly good job, I packed the Nikon with the 85mm micro lens. My quarry, I knew from long experience, would be stoneflies, those stream-dwelling insects that, when the weather warms, come out of the water and fly up to the top of one particular bridge to scout out mating possibilities. I like to think of these critters as harbingers... but of what? No chance it's a sign of a ridiculously early spring—we still have half of January and all of February to get through, and winter's not about to give up so easily. Or soon. Instead, the appearance of stoneflies, at the first possible opportunity, is a sign of opportunism—a harbinger of mating. And these insects are hardy enough to take advantage of whatever opportunity the weather allows. Here's the first opportunist, but, as near as I can determine, he didn't find any similar-inclined members of his species.