Water Strider

These water striders were all over the place here today. Anywhere I saw water by the nature trails, there they were. I stood there on the bridge watching them scoot across the water. I wondered why they did it and how they did it. I like the way they make those round depressions on the water wherever they touch it. I was just watching a Jackie Chan movie called The Tuxedo, where he is wearing a super spy tuxedo. In the movie he keeps mistakenly asking for a man named Walter Strider. He really is supposed to be asking about water striders. It's a nice movie, and I remembered the name of these insects because of it.

Here's a little about them from Wikipedia:
The family Gerridae contains insects commonly known as water striders, water bugs, magic bugs, pond skaters, skaters, skimmers, water scooters, water skaters, water skeeters, water skimmers or water skippers. These are predatory insects which rely on surface tension to walk on top of water. They live on the surface of ponds, slow streams, marshes, and other quiet waters. They can move very quickly, up to 1.5 m/s.

Cool. Follow the link up there for more information.