• flowers,  insects,  Plants

    Pick Me

    August 15, 2014
    Butterfly on Coneflower
    Butterfly on Coneflower

    Have no clue what butterfly this is, so if anyone knows let me know. Nor do I know the gender. Almost have to be a butterfly to know that difference. I do know the flower is a coneflower.  Sometimes things just fall into place and other times they dont. This was one those time it did. As I knelt down to photograph some coneflowers that are close to the end of their season of life, this butterfly wanted in the photo. This one flitted back and forth between two flowers directly in front of me. Butterflies and birds are attracted to the sweet nectar of coneflowers. I could almost hear this one calling out, “Pick me. Pick me.” So I did.

    Read More
  • bees,  insects

    Thirsty Bee

    June 28, 2013
    Drinking Water
    Drinking Water

    My sister has a small fountain in her backyard. I love the soothing sound that it makes. I was amazed to watch the bees and wasps as they gathered around the fountain to take in water. Since bees are not know to be good swimmers they prefer to find water in small puddles. The bees find all the small pebbles around the fountain, perch on the pebbles and begin lapping up the water. Nature gave me another lesson.

    Read More
  • bees,  Canon Powershot G12,  flowers,  insects,  Plants/Nature

    Flowers and a Bee

    August 1, 2012
    Sunday Observer

    I plopped down on the ground and braced my elbows on my knees to get images of these flowers. The bees were all over the place so I impatiently waited for one of them to come into the viewfinder then shot’em. No harm was done to the flower or the bee. Got the seat of my pants wet but us photogs don’t care. We walk back to our car with dirty britches. 🙂

    Hope everyone has a good August!

    Read More
  • insects

    Making Eye Contact

    July 11, 2012
    Making Eye Contact

    I’m not a fan of spiders even though I know they have a necessary place in our ecosystem. They help manage insect populations by eating lots of insects that cause harm to agriculture and insects that bother humans, such as mosquitos. They also supply food for birds, lizards, wasps and other animals. I don’t stomp on ’em like I have in the past but I do give them space because there is a venom in those bites. The junipers along the sidewalk leading to my front door have a few spiderwebs which usually means there’s spiders. So, I peaked and sure enough there were spiders. So, I grabbed the tripod and a macro and got down close. We were sure making eye contact when I took this image. I’m still not a fan of them and was wishing I had a longer macro. 🙂

    Read More
  • insects

    The Boisea Trivittata

    September 8, 2011
    Love is in the air

    Or, otherwise known as a boxelder bug and considered by many to be a nuisance. They are most abundant during hot, dry summers. While walking along the bar ditch a few days ago I found pairs of them all over the place. Busy little buggers.

    Read More
  • flowers,  insects,  Plants/Nature

    Busy Caterpillar

    August 27, 2011
    Camouflaged, Eastern Colorado

    It seems I’ve been so caught up in the bigger landscapes that I’ve forgotten about the little stuff. A couple evenings ago I walked the bar ditches of a country road, sticking my nose in another world with a macro lens. I enjoyed myself until I knelt down in a patch of bull head stickers. I assume this caterpillar to be a moth rather than a butterfly. It was amazing to watch such a veracious eater, I had all the time I needed to shoot. Man did my knees hurt afterwards. Need to remember to take some knee pads or buy a longer macro.

    Read More
  • insects,  quotes

    Eye Contact

    July 6, 2011
    Eye to Eye

    “…it all comes down to the same thing. You can’t make anything happen, you just have to be ready when it does.”

    Andrew Vachss

    Some subjects cannot be posed. Our task is to be there and be patient with our subjects and ourselves.

    Read More
  • Canon Powershot G12,  insects

    Cicada

    May 15, 2011
    Resting Cicadia

    These little buggers were all over the place. I found hundreds of these cicadas while on the same walk as yesterday’s image of the honeysuckle. There was not a sound from any of them as they rested among the shade. For me, a native of Colorado, I thought they were a locust of some sort but after asking around I discovered they’re called a cicada. A quick look at Wikipedia tells me they are an insect with large eyes wide apart on the head and usually transparent, well-veined wings. Pretty descriptive of what I saw. After learning what they were I remember listening to them at my grandmother’s house when I was a young boy. While taking this image one of them landed on my camera strap and just hung around with me for a while.

    Read More