When the groundhog named Punxsutawney Phil was pulled from his
fake tree trunk in Pennsylvania on February 2, he saw his
shadow. According to legend, that means the winter blues are
sticking around. So, what's the good news? According to John
Hanson Mitchell, an editor with the Massachusetts Audubon
Society in Lincoln and author of the book A Field Guide to Your
Own Backyard, insects in the winter lie so low they seem to have
disappeared. Worry about bug bites can also wait for warmer
weather. But Mitchell said the six-legged critters are not
completely gone. Instead, they're largely catching some shut eye
before an active spring and summer. "If you look around in the
winter, you can find a lot of insectsmore than you'd think,
especially on warm, sunny days, even though there's snow on the
ground," he said. Like lizards and snakes, insects are cold-
blooded. Their body temperatures rise and fall with the mercury
in the thermometer. When insects recognize that winter is
coming, they get ready by employing diffe