May 21
Yesterday was the last official day for the flora survey until after the hot weather. Although I did get some photos of flowers, my prize captures yesterday were a couple of butterflies and a gorgeous red beetle! At upper left is a Marine Blue Butterfly. Lower left is a Mormon Metalmark Butterfly. It took a lot of googling to ID the beetle but I finally found that it’s a Bloody Net-Winged Beetle. What a name!
May 12
This is the time of year to be looking for bugs and bug eggs….if that interests you, of course! These eggs were along a spine of my Christmas Cholla which should tell you how small they are. I only noticed them because I was using a Macro lens with an extension tube. (I was hand holding so they aren’t very sharp). Click on BUGGUIDE to see hundreds of insect egg photos. I found a couple that looked similar (Stink Bug) but I have no clue. Looking at all the eggs makes me want to find more!
Mar 24
Here’s another shot from our rainy day Monday. This fly on the Blackfoot Daisy was about an 1/8th of an inch long. I used my 100mm Macro with a 25mm extension tube to capture him and then cropped the image to enlarge him more. I haven’t been able to ID him yet but based on his patterned wings, green eyes and especially his size, my guess is he’s a fruit fly of some kind. I don’t have fruit trees so maybe he was just getting a drink of water 🙂
Jan 6
I noticed this spider late yesterday and was mesmerized. He was repairing his web and I could hardly believe how fast he was doing it. I grabbed a quick handheld shot but didn’t have my ISO high enough so it wasn’t in focus. A little Pixel Bender Oil Paint made it good enough for photo of the day. I hope to get a better picture of him/her later.
Dec 28
It always surprises me when I come across a Dragonfly while hiking in the Preserve because I associate them with water and there is usually none in sight! I followed this female Variegated Meadowhawk (sympetrum corruptum) for a while and was rewarded when she finally lighted and actually let me get very close.
Aug 24
Beetle finds a drink in a Richardson’s Geranium. Shot with Canon SX1 IS.
Jun 22
My back-up drives are nearly full but rather than buying more storage, I decided to start culling out worthless images…..something I’ve been thinking about for some time. Lightroom makes the process go relatively quickly and so far I’ve been able to recover a considerable amount of space.
Besides enjoying a trip down memory lane, I’m also finding images I have never processed like this Icelandic Poppy and Spider from June, 2003.
Spiders will wait for prey on flowers loaded with pollen.
Jun 14
Here are a couple of critters we spotted along the trail while looking for butterflies. The first is a Robber Fly….a vicious creature! He needs a new name because what he actually does is spear his victims with his proboscis (including butterflies), inject a toxin that liquefies them and then slurps out their inside. Ewww!!! It sure is easy to see where horror movie makers get their monster ideas. The second critter is a Short-Horned Lizard. He’s also an insect eater but he just sticks out his tongue and grabs them. Same ending for the insect but more acceptable don’t you think? 🙂
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