Thanks Cyndi for your work! I checked these two links and did a Google Image search of "springtail" and that's a very good match with what I saw! And the size (1/16"-1/8") is also a match.
(The other link was not; they were not larvae.) These tiny insects reminded me of an oblong version of those tiny bugs you can get on old paper. Or the tiny snow fleas. I'm posting this to the group since many people have asked me to forward what we find out. Diana Doyle S. Minneapolis ------ On May 16, 2011, at 11:31 AM, Cyndi Elias wrote: Here is some information I received from an entomologist friend about what the warblers might be eating: When you first wrote tiny gray insects, I thought of springtails, http://www.extension.umn.edu/distribution/horticulture/M1305.html. But when you said associated with elm, they are probably gall midge larvae, http://blog.lib.umn.edu/efans/ygnews/2010/05/little-worms-under-elm.html. These larvae usually get described as reddish or yellowish but I have received a few reports of them this spring. While I would doubt birds would eat springtails, they could be interested in these larvae. They are a short-termed event though, lasting maybe a few days. Best regards, Cyndi Elias ---- Join or Leave mou-net: http://lists.umn.edu/cgi-bin/wa?SUBED1=mou-net Archives: http://lists.umn.edu/archives/mou-net.html
