Creatures

Phyciodes tharos (Pearl Crescent)

I went up to Pennsylvania with mom and Seth today. We spent a little while doing what amounts to heavy yard work but took a little time to relax and enjoy the quiet, as well. It was hot, particularly out in the sun, but otherwise a beautiful day. Before we left, I wandered off with my camera for a bit and chased little butterflies as they moved from flower to flower. They often have their wings folded when they are on flowers, but I wanted to get a picture with them open. Typically they will open and shut them at somewhat regular intervals and I managed to capture them mostly open in this picture.

Update: I originally titled this post “Fritillary” but that was wrong. It is a “Crescent,” probably a pearl crescent or something similar.

Swallowtail, Up Close

I was trying to see how close I could get to the tiger swallowtails (Papilio glaucus) today. This one let me get pretty close and you can see the hairs on her body. I have a question for any botanist out there who happens to come across this page. It is my understanding that one of the three characteristics unique to mammals is hair. If that’s the case, then what are the hair like things on this butterfly? Is there some definition of “hair” that lets it include mammal hair but not the apparent hair on other animals? If so, please let me know.

Mecynogea lemniscata (Basilica Orbweaver)

This is one of the many (3,500 species worldwide, with 180 occurring north of Mexico) orbweaver spiders. It’s hard to tell from this angle, but a picture I got of her back shows me pretty conclusively that this is a Basilica Orbweaver (Mecynogea lemniscata). I came upon it in the woods next to my office. Fortunately I saw the web before I walked into it. I hate it when that happens, especially with spiders as large as this.

Calycopis cecrops (Red-banded Hairstreak)

I was following this pretty, little butterfly around the back yard, trying to get close enough for a decent picture. When it finally let me get close enough, I got a bonus in the form of a small (but unidentified) spider. I’m pretty pleased with how this pictures turned out, although getting the spider in better focus would have been nice. This is one of a few hairstreaks that we see fairly often in the area, and is probably the most common.

Blue Jay Feather

So, two days in a row with two pictures posted for the day. Crazy. Of course, I don’t think anyone actually reads what I write. Most people see my pictures on Instagram or Facebook, which is fine, but they don’t see the text there, just a link to it here. I’d be surprised if anyone actually follows that link. If you do, and if you are reading this, well, thank you very much (and I’d be delighted if you let me know). Today’s second picture is a feather from a blue jay (Cyanocitta cristata). While the darkness of the woods made getting a clear picture of the butterfly difficult, it made the color in this feather all the more beautiful.

Lethe portlandia (Southern Pearly Eye)

Cathy and I took a walk along Rock Creek between Lake Frank and where the creek goes under Muncaster Mill Road today. It was late in the afternoon and the light wasn’t very bright under the trees so this is the best I could do getting a picture of this butterfly, a southern pearly eye (Lethe portlandia). It’s a pretty little thing, flitting about around puddles in the dirt path.

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.