Creatures

Sphex nudus (Katydid Wasp)

I was out with my dual-flash macro bracket this afternoon and I got a few reasonably good pictures, including this katydid wasp (Sphex nudus). I got some more of the transverse flower fly (Eristalis transversa) featured in my post on Friday, July 31, 2015. I’m still trying to figure out how to control the light properly from the three flash heads (the on-camera flash and the two wireless slaves). In certain situations it seems to produce an overexposure no matter what I do. It seems to be related to how much dark background there is in the frame, which sort of makes sense. Always learning.

Papilio glaucus (Eastern Tiger Swallowtail)

This is a female eastern tiger swallowtail butterfly (Papilio glaucus), by far the most common large butterfly that we have in our garden. The males and females are easily distinguished by the blue on their hindwings, as seen in this photo.

There was a little delay in getting this picture up on my server. I’ve been approaching capacity on the 3TB drive (which is really only 2.7TB) that has most of my photos on it and as I was uploading today’s batch of photos, I reached it. I ordered a new, 5TB drive (which is really only 4.4 TB). I installed it on Monday (8/10) and then spent about 24 hours copying everything to that. It’s now up and running (as I write this on 8/12) and I’m back in business.

Epargyreus clarus (Silver-spotted Skipper)

This is one of the larger skippers and is quite conspicuous because of the bright, white streak on the hind wings, visible when it is at rest. It is a harder thing to get a picture of than the smaller skippers, being more shy to being approached. Even this picture isn’t everything I could have wanted, but I suppose it’s good enough. The bees on the mountain mint, all around where I was standing when I took this, were quite thick. I wish I could take a picture to show you how many of them there are, but to show the whole area, I need to get far enough away that the bees are too small. It’s the motion that I really love.

Mosquito

I have a feeling this isn’t going to be as popular a picture as some. Even the picture of the fly I posted recently (Eristalis transversa, Transverse Flower Fly) was popular because in spite of it being a fly, it’s a beautiful fly. Mosquitoes, on the other hand, are pretty much universally disliked, however they look. I haven’t done much with identification of mosquitoes so I’m not sure which this is. At first glance, I think it may be Orthopodomyia signifera, but I wouldn’t place a great deal of confidence in that. The picture may not be sharp enough, really, to get a definitive ID, but I’ll see what I can find out from the experts at BugGuide.net.

Willet (Tringa semipalmata)

I already posted a picture from our first day (evening, really, because we didn’t arrive until after 5:30) at the beach. Cathy and I walked on the beach for a little while before we had dinner. I took a few pictures and I’m pretty pleased with this one of a willet (Tringa semipalmata) that let me get reasonably close. It would have been better had he been facing the sun, to the left, but when I asked him to turn around, he just flew off. Temperamental bird.

Apis mellifera (European Honey Bee)

We have a lot of European honey bees (Apis mellifera) this time of year, mostly on the mountain mint (Pycnanthemum muticum) but also on the other flowers that are blooming right now: black-eyed Susan, Buddleia, Conoclinium coelestinum, purple coneflower, and Asclepias tuberosa, among others. Contrary to what you may have been hearing, the world population of honey bees is steady or growing. In the USA, “the number of honey-producing colonies has been generally steady for about two decades and has risen four of the last five years – including an increase of over 100,000 hives last year. The bee population is up nearly 13 percent since 2008, recovering after the initial findings of colony collapse disorder.” Many people also are under the false impression that only honey bees are suitable pollinators for food producing plants. This leads to the also false impression that without honey bees, the country would become a barren wasteland. Remember, there were no honey bees in North or South America until they were brought here by European colonists. Many other bees, wasps, flies, butterflies, and moths pollinate flowers. Some of them are actually better pollinators than honey bees. Of course, they don’t have the significant fringe benefit of producing honey, and losing that would be a loss indeed.

Xylocopa virginica (Eastern Carpenter Bee)

This bee (Xylocopa virginica, the eastern carpenter bee) was on our front walk when we came home and I thought I’d get down close for a picture, if it would let me. Turns out it didn’t have much say in the matter, as it wasn’t living. Why it had died is anybodies guess, but there you are. This picture turned out reasonably well. The eastern carpenter bee is extremely common and probably one of the two or three most prevalent bee species in our yard throughout most of the summer, certainly of the larger bees, anyway.

Update: I initially had this labeled as a common eastern bumble bee (Bombus impatiens), but that was wrong.

Calopteryx maculata (Ebony Jewelwing)

It’s high season for dragonflies and the pond next to my building is a good spot for finding them. Of course, taking pictures of them takes a little more than a camera and a good location. You also need a fair amount of patience. They tend to be shy and fly away when you get too close. Getting close is fairly important, though. I found a good spot, got reasonably comfortable, and waited. This female ebony jewelwing (Calopteryx maculata) landed nearby and then moved even closer. Close enough for a pretty near view.

Two Fawns

Generally I try not to post a picture of the same general subject two days in a row. If we’re travelling then I might, or if there is some multi-day event going on, but particularly in the when I’m just taking pictures in the back yard, I try not to. Well, for yesterday I posted a picture of a white-tail deer fawn. This evening there were two. How could I not go out and take pictures of them and post one of those? So, here are two white-tail deer fawns.

White-tail Deer Fawn

For the last few days we’ve had this white-tail deer fawn in our back yard. He seems to sleep in the center of the yard, under a tree in the middle of a bed of lesser periwinkle (Vinca minor) and lily-of-the-valley (Convallaria majalis) but if disturbed he will run behind the roses along the back fence. Like most fawns he is safest if predators don’t see him, so he remained alert but still as I approached this morning. When I got too close, of course, he had no choice but to get up and move. Not that I’m a predator, exactly, but he doesn’t know that.

Leucauge venusta (Orchard Orbweaver)

As I was going out to look for things to photograph this evening, Cathy mentioned a spider web above one of her patio pots. It was an orchard orbweaver (Leucauge venusta), a fairly common, outdoor spider in these parts. This will be my fifth orbweaver photo since I started the blog and my second this year, but never mind.

I know not everyone likes spiders but, particularly outdoors, they are quite good friends to have and I don’t mind them at all. This one is particularly beautiful, I think.

Orgyia leucostigma (White-marked Tussock Moth)

When I left to head to work this morning I noticed this little lad (or lass) on the tire of my car. I took a few pictures of it there before moving it down onto the pavement and taking a few more, including this one. It’s a fairly pretty little caterpillar, although the tussock moths are pests of trees and therefore not necessarily desirable visitors. Note that contact with hairs may cause an allergic reaction.

Agallia constricta (Constricted Leafhopper)

I was out in the yard this evening looking for things to photograph. We have a few things coming into bloom but I also noticed that there were more insects about than the last time I looked. I saw a dozen or so skippers, a few bees of one sort or another, and when I got down on the ground, quite a few very small insects. These are the things that you can easily overlook unless you pay close attention. This little fellow (or more likely lady, judging by the size) is only about 2mm long, sitting on the edge of a black-eyed Susan leaf. I was able to get fairly close but I’d love to get some extension tubes so I could get closer still. I think it turned out pretty well, though.

Baltimore Oriole (Icterus galbula)

Albert, Brady, mom, and I went for a nice bird watching walk this morning at Martin Luther King Recreational Park in Silver Spring. We went there for a reason, it wasn’t just random. It’s a good place to see Baltimore orioles. The birds, not the baseball players. We saw quite a few although getting good photographs of them is not all that easy. First, they tend to stay up towards the tops of trees so usually you’re looking up at them through all the leaves. It’s made harder by the fact that I really don’t have a suitable lens for the job. In addition to the orioles, we saw 25 other species of bird. My pictures of an eastern kingbird actually turned out pretty well, but I’m going with this oriole picture, anyway.

Hyla versicolor (Gray Tree Frog)

I was coming back into my building early this afternoon when I spotted something out of place. In the lower right corner, just inside the metal frame against the large plate of tinted glass, was a blob. That’s all it really looked like at first. When I got closer, though, I noticed that this blob was a frog. I’m pretty sure it’s a common or eastern gray tree frog (Hyla versicolor). There is another very similar frog, the Cope’s gray tree frog (H. chrysoscelis) so I cannot say for sure, but this seems like a reasonable guess and the yellow patch on its legs (which you cannot see in this photo) means it is one of those two.

I moved him off the door so I wouldn’t be lying on the ground right there, keeping others from going in or coming out. The frog was very compliant and let me get quite close, as you can see.