Yesterday I was finishing filling up our pool and hooking up the filter after having drained it the days prior[1]; a lot of water striders found our pool in May so I was skimming them out hoping they can travel down to the much friendlier pond vs the chlorinated vat I'm building[2]. It struck me as I did so: I have never seen the colors of a skimmer, nor appreciated how long their back two sets of legs are or how short their front set is. They scoot so fast and seem so dark against the water; I found their pale sides and belly quite beautiful, with stripes on each segment of their abdomens. The delicate long legs hugged the pool skimmer with a surprising length flat against the mesh, and their shorter arms looked ideal for snatching whatever food they eat. I just don't know a lot about these guys despite going "oh, yeah, these guys rule!!" whenever I think about them or see them. I think I'm gonna go read up on them today.
I have yet to accomplish the mythical clean open where you don't end up with a half-full pool of green, but I also have yet to actually invest in things like "above ground pool cover that can withstand the hellish winter winds an exposed hilltop recieves" and "something that will keep the leaves out during Autumn", partially cuz those things cost nearly as much as the pool did and partially cuz sumping out the water and refilling it is not a huge ask ↩︎
can these fly? I saw what seemed to be wings but they were pretty short compared to their mass. I should look this up; hold this thought ↩︎