Bugs
Honey Bee on Sedum
Near sunset last night, I stepped outside for a moment…with my camera. I paused to watch and snap this honey bee. It was meticulously moving from blossom to blossom on a sedum plant in the flowerbed near our house.
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Watchful Eye
Here’s a little touch of nature for you. I stopped to take some photos around the harbor at Algoma, Wisconsin. It wasn’t a foggy day elsewhere, but conditions were right to create a foggy area around the piers and lighthouse. I took a few photos (some I’ll be posting later) of the pier and a fisherman in the fog, and the lighthouse and boats.
As I finished and headed back to my vehicle, I noticed a few wildflowers growing near the water. I stopped to take a few random shots. Then I noticed a few bees – always a favorite photographic subject of mine – so I stopped to take a few photos of them. Then, as I started to leave again, I noticed a flash of yellow. An American Goldfinch landed in a nearby patch of thistles to enjoy a meal. It didn’t seem bothered by my presence, so I started taking photos. (Some I’ll post later.)
While concentrating on the Goldfinch, I happened to notice a bee in the foreground and refocused on the bee for awhile…as the bird continued to feast in the background.
The one thing I don’t like about this image (and others in the batch) is the background. I think it looks unnatural and fake. The background is simply the water of the harbor. I would have preferred something that had a little more color variation, instead of the flat blue, but I wasn’t able to change my position to create a different look. The thistles were only a foot or two from the water and I was shooting from a position higher than the bird.
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Garden Variety Nymphs
I found these cute little bugs hanging around on the zucchini in our garden. These are squash bugs…still in the nymph stage. This photo makes them look larger than they really are.
To see the nymphs even larger, click on the photo.
Morning Dangler
I found this monarch butterfly clinging to the underside of a purple coneflower in a meadow very early morning. It was obvious, this is where it spent the night. It was still in sleep-mode when I photographed it. I was able to nudge it without it flying off. I eventually coaxed it to the top of the flower and posted a photo of that earlier ( see it here: Monarch of the Meadow)
For a little different feel, I added a bit of texture to this one.
You can see a larger version of this image by clicking on it.
Three’s a Crowd
A couple of bees were working on this Sunflower when an ant decided to enter the picture. This is a flower in my wife’s flower bed. Not a flower she planted. One that was added by the birds dropping seeds from the feeders.
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Garden Svengali
This butterfly struck a perfect pose for this portrait shot. He was a handsome specimen. Still, I’m not sure which I find more interesting, the butterfly or the flower he is perched on.
Ugly Bug Feast
My camera and I spent a warm summer morning roaming the woods of northwest Missouri.
I found small clearing with some wildflowers, including a number of beautiful Queen Ann’s Lace. On one bunch of Queen Ann’s Lace I spotted a black wasp with distinctive white stripes. It was easy to see the bed of white.
Upon closer inspection, it was obvious the wasp had died there Then I noticed a smaller, ugly bug gnawing on it’s leg. It took some searching and help from a friend to identify it as an Ambush Bug.
I watched it for awhile and saw the ambush bug try to carry the wasp off, but seemed unable. I think the wasps legs were stuck in the flower bed.
I made it a point to check back the next day and couldn’t find any sign of either parties.
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Popular Spot
Flowers are blooming and the bees are buzzing. This proved to be a popular spot in the meadow. Honey bees and bumble bees were frequenting this clump of purple spiderswort. It was early morning – maybe 6:30 (notice the dew still on the plants) – and they were already hard at it.
To get this shot, I put my camera on a tripod and simply focused on a colorful, well lit clump of flowers and waited. When a bee would enter into the scene, I would start clicking. The bees you see here are exactly how I photographed them…but they were never in the shot together. Since the focus and framing never changed, it was easy to combine the various bees from separate images into one.
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Monarch of the Meadow
This monarch butterfly, sitting on the head of a cone flower, was stretching its wings in the early morning sun. I like the way the petals from the flower look like trailing streamers.
I was delighted to capture this image because butterflies have been a real challenge for me. Of all my attempts – chasing the fidgety creatures around with my camera – I’ve only been able to catch a couple of images I’ve been happy with. I just happened to catch this one early in the morning, not fully awake. I even had to nudge it to get it to open its wings.
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On A Pedestal
This is a great time to crawl through the garden looking for bees and bugs. This guy was about his business – working the garden, buzzing from flower to flower.
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