Ants farm aphids on a senna stem

Ant Farm

Ants farming aphids for honeydew on a wild senna stem, Senna hebecarpa. The ants appear to be red-banded carpenter ant, Camponotus chromaiodes, based on a quick internet search. An even quicker search suggests the aphids may be black bean aphid, Aphis fabae. Taken with 60mm AF f/2.8 Micro-Nikkor. Related articles Best Cheap Nikon Macro Lens: 60mm f/2.8D AF […]

Monarch chrysalis in early October

Last Chrysalis

A chrysalis matures in the early days of October. The monarch butterfly in this chrysalis needs to get it moving. The window for migration is closing quickly. The hint of wing patterns suggests the eclose is close. The butterfly did eclose successfully (not a certainty with the many parasites around) and left for Mexico on […]

Brilliant Sugar Maple Leaf

Brilliant Sugar Maple

Taken with my favorite lens, the Nikon AF FX Micro-NIKKOR 60mm f/2.8D.  Sugar Maple leaf in the late afternoon autumn sun. The leaf was held perpendicular to the sun in order give definition to the texture of the leaf. Note the sympathetic colors in the autumn foliage in the background.  Nikon D90. f/8. Processed in […]

Autumn Meadowhawk

Red Face at f/32

Taken with a Micro-Nikkor 60mm on a Nikon D90. Autumn meadowhawk dragonflies are the last dragonflies to leave the local ponds in the fall. They stick around, as long as the weather holds, into November. November this year was particularly favorable. There were still half a dozen of these actively breeding on November 17; that is […]

Saddleback Caterpillar with Thumb

Saddleback Caterpillar: Look, No Touch!

Beautiful but deadly! Well, not deadly, but extremely uncomfortable. This saddleback caterpillar, Acharya stimuli,  is bristling with stinging hairs. Potent enough to cause nausea in addition to straightforward pain. Thumb for scale. I followed this specimen over several days as it worked on blackberry leaves. I was excited to find this; I have been looking for one for […]

Ruddy Turnstone

Ruddy Turnstone

The ruddy turnstone is among my favorite shorebirds because his name is easy to remember. This one is transitioning to his breeding plumage in the light of a Sanibel sunrise. Taken with Nikon D90 and Nikkor 70-300 VR ED.

Brown Pelican and his shadow

Brown Pelican and His Shadow

As is customary, the brown pelicans were literally at their posts at the boat ramp on Tarpon Bay, Sanibel Island, Florida. These two had a habit of doing the same thing at the same time, albeit in different directions at this moment on a fine April evening. They were on posts about 20 feet apart. […]