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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
A spreadwing damselfly among the colors of autumn. Spreadwings are damselflies; they share the slender body of most damselflies but tend to hold their wings away from their bodies rather than fold neatly over the abdomen. This species is also quite large for a damselfly, at least two inches long. We were enjoying an unusually […]
Or, more specifically, the larva of the brown-hooded owlet moth, Cucullia convexipennis, on goldenrod Solidago sp. While the caterpillar is a stunner, the adult moth is rather a wall flower. The shed exoskeleton is immediately behind (above) the caterpillar. The caterpillar’s head is down. Taken on a Nikon D90 with a Micro-Nikkor 60mm AF lens. For a […]
Taken with AF Micro-Nikkor 60mm macro lens.
Dutchman’s Breeches herald spring. At last, the ephemeral wildflowers are with us again after a very, very long winter! Taken with a Nikon D90 and a Micro-nikkor 60mm f/2.8 macro lens. Related articles Dutchman’s breeches Some spring wildflowers ~ Dutchman’s Breeches
Sensitive Fern margin. From the archives–you won’t see these around here in December.
This may not impress you, but for me it is a first. It is the first time I have captured a lightning bolt in a photograph. It was on a handheld iPod touch 5th generation, the camera I happened to have with me when this thunderstorm went by. The best strategy was to fire in […]
I discovered this tiger swallowtail butterfly struggling in the tall grass. He was pretty tattered. I boosted him up to an ironweed bloom for a meal. He immediately began drinking nectar from the flowers, pictured below. Hopefully my random act of kindness will buy him a little more time to a very brief life. Pardon […]