Monthly Archives: August 2014

Black-eyed Susans

Black-eyed Susans

Black-eyed Susans

No insects today, just flowers. This is the predominant color in our back yard right now. The great thing about black-eyed Susans (Rudbeckia species) is that they bloom late in the summer, when many other plants have finished. They are also prolific and don’t need any care, to speak of. They happen to be the Maryland state flower, so I guess that makes them particularly appropriate for growing here (in Maryland).

On a technical note, photographing bright, yellow flowers with a digital camera set to automatic white balance it a challenge. Pictures with one predominate color tend to fool the on-board computer into thinking it needs to correct the color balance and yellow seems to be the color that fools it the most. I almost always need to adjust the color of pictures of black-eyed Susans, unless (and I didn’t do this here) I take a shot of a neutral gray subject first and use that to set the white balance. That’s worth knowing how to do, if you take a lot of pictures of brightly but monochromaticly colored subjects.

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Oncopeltus fasciatus (Large Milkweed Bug)

Oncopeltus fasciatus (Large Milkweed Bug)

Oncopeltus fasciatus (Large Milkweed Bug)

This is a large bug (using the term “bug” in its technical sense—this is one of the “true bugs,” order Hemiptera, suborder Heteroptera—and a hansome one, at that. Not surprisingly, I found this one on the Asclepias tuberosa, butterfly weed, one of the milkweeds. From BugGuide.net, “In the course of feeding these bugs accumulate toxins from the milkweed, which can potentially sicken any predators foolish enough to ignore the bright colors which warn of their toxicity.&x201d;

There is a fair amount of variation in their color intensity. This one is a fairly pale orange, but I’ve seen them much brighter and pictures of them that are more red than orange. This photo was taken with flash, which I should do more often when taking insect pictures, because it allows a smaller aperture and shorter exposure, giving a sharper image with greater depth of field.

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Montgomery County Fair

Cathy and Friend

Cathy and Friend

Dorothy wanted to go to the County Fair this afternoon to meet up with a group of her friends. Cathy and I decided we’d go, as well, and see the place on our own. We started by walking up to the art building and saw some work of a few young people that we know. There were a few very nice pieces. Every year I think I should print a few photographs and enter them in the fair, but I usually think of it the week the fair starts, which is a bit late.

We wandered around a bit, looking at this and that, and stopping for a cone of ice cream. This is a picture of Cathy with a friend she made during our brief visit there. I don’t actually know his name or where he works, but I’m pretty sure he makes pizza.

Of course, we also visited the animals. That’s probably the thing I enjoy the most about the fair. The “new” Old MacDonald’s Barn, renovated in time for the fair last year, was very crowded but it was fun to see a camel, a fairly large Brahman, and a cow and her four hour old calf.

Future Lawn Mower Buyers

Future Lawn Mower Buyers

Walking past the farm equipment display, memories of my childhood came back. In fact, one of my fondest is when, as childred, we climbed over the tractors and associated farming machinery. They are like carnival rides without the cost. I suppose if we had grown up on a farm they might not have the attraction, but we grew up in the suburbs.

I enjoyed seeing these children sitting on the line of bright, shiny, new lawn mowers. Show me a kid who doesn’t enjoy sitting on new farm equipment and I’ll show you a kid who needs to get out more often.

Swings

Swings

Of course, the carnival portion of the fair is extremely popular with the crowds. I like rides as much as the next person and in fact probably more than most. On the other hand, I’m not a big fan of waiting in lines. Anyway, we weren’t really there for the rides, but I did take some pictures (I know that will come as a shock to you). This is one that Dorothy enjoyed from a very young age. I think she first rode on one at Hershey Park in 2003.

This part of the fair is always quite crowded, of course, and even more so if you wait until dusk, when most of the animal exhibits are going dark for the night. Then it really gets jammed. Moving through the sea of people is a challenge, but if you enjoy people watching, this is a great place to be. But we were on our way out by this time, and I didn’t hang around longer than it took to get a half dozen photographs or so.

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Fireworks

Fennel (Foeniculum vulgare)

Fennel (Foeniculum vulgare)

We went over to Albert and Brady’s house early this afternoon and spent a while in their back yard. They have quite a vegetable garden and are discovering the joys of too many cucumbers and zucchini. This is fennel (Foeniculum vulgare), which has pretty but very small yellow flowers arranged in what looks to me like little exploding fireworks. Each of these little explosions is about three quarters of an inch across, so the individual flowers are really tiny.

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Celastrina neglecta (Summer Azure)

Celastrina neglecta (Summer Azure)

Celastrina neglecta (Summer Azure)

When I took this, I assumed it was a cabbage white (Pieris rapae) but when I went to check just to be sure, I realized that it doesn’t have the tell-tale black spot. The wings are not as pure white, either, with all those brown marks and squiggles. So I had to look it up. It’s an azure and I’m pretty sure it’s a summer azure (Celastrina neglecta), which is one of the blues in the family Lycaenidae (the blues, coppers, hairstreaks, and harvesters). The cabbage white is in family Pieridae (the whites, sulphurs, and yellows). Pretty little thing, even if it isn’t as showy as the monarch or swallowtails.

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Sappy Pine Cones

Sappy Pine Cones

Sappy Pine Cones

Sometime mid-morning Cathy sent me a text saying that there was a pine tree by her parking lot with cones dripping with sap. She sent a picture taken on her phone (which was probably as good as this one) and said I should come take pictures. So, I did. It was pretty windy today so getting the cones in focus was a bit hit or miss, but this one is pretty sharp. When I first saw them, it looked like they were covered with ice, which really didn’t fit the weather we’re having.

I’m not entirely sure why they drip sap and haven’t actually looked it up, but I suspect it’s to keep insects and other critters away from the seeds while they develop. I do know (or think I know, which isn’t exactly the same thing) that the seeds take until the second year to mature. Given how long they need to survive without being eaten, the sap provides a bit of protection.

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Macrosiagon limbata (Wedge-shaped Beetle)

Macrosiagon limbata (Wedge-shaped Beetle)

Macrosiagon limbata (Wedge-shaped Beetle)

I hope you aren’t getting tired of insect photographs. When I get home from work, going out back and watching the wasps is something I’ve come to enjoy, so I hope you don’t mind. I’ve seen this one, a wedge-shaped beetle (Macrosiagon limbata) once before and posted a picture on June 28, 2012. The feathery antennae on this one mean it’s a male. The female, as in the picture from 2012, has much simpler antennae.

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Synanthedon acerrubri (Red Maple Borer)

<em>Synanthedon acerrubri</em> (Red Maple Borer)

Synanthedon acerrubri (Red Maple Borer)

Back on August 21, 2012 I took and posted a photo of a dogwood borer (Synanthedon scitula). This is an closely related species, the red maple borer (S. acerrubri). I found it feeding on the black-eyed Susans (obviously) and managed to get a few pretty good pictures of it. This one isn’t actually the best in terms of identification, but I like it the best as a photograph. The most obvious difference between the two species is that this one has a bright orange tuft at the end of it’s abdomen. It’s the larvae which damage maples, boring into branches. Apparently they prefer red and and sugar maples.

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Papilio glaucus (Eastern Tiger Swallowtail)

<em>Papilio glaucus</em> (Eastern Tiger Swallowtail)

Papilio glaucus (Eastern Tiger Swallowtail)

More butterfly pictures today. There were a couple eastern tiger swallowtails on the Verbena bonariensis although I had a bit of work to get close to them. Eventually I managed to do it, though, and I think the results were worth the effort. This butterfly was moving from one flower head to the next, sucking nectar through its long proboscis. Here you can see the “drinking straw” as it’s moved from one flower to another.

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Zethus spinipes (Potter Wasp)

<em>Zethus spinipes</em> (Potter Wasp)

Zethus spinipes (Potter Wasp)

Cathy and I were out in the back yard late this afternoon. Normally, when I want to find wasps to photograph, I head for the mountain mint. Today, I was sitting at the table on the patio and noticed a few things on the black-eyed Susans on the other side of the gas grill. I put the camera on the lid of the grill and was able to get reasonably steady shots of this potter wasp. In 2012 and again in 2013 I took pictures of a potter wasp named Eumenes fraternus but this is the first time I’ve taken any of Zethus spinipes. It’s quite a beautiful little wasp, I think.

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Danaus plexippus (Monarch)

Danaus plexippus (Monarch)

Danaus plexippus (Monarch)

Well, we drove home from the beach today. Days mostly spent driving, especially when you’re more interested in trying to get home than see the scenery, are tough days photographically. It rained quite heavily as we left the beach and until about the time we got onto I-95. Then traffic was characteristically heavy all the way home, particularly on the stretch between Richmond and Washington. One of the worst routes in the country, I suspect.

Anyway, I did go out back when we got home, because the butterflies have appeared. I’ve seen a few before now this summer but this afternoon there were a couple swallowtails (Papilio glaucus) and a monarch (Danaus plexippus). They are surprisingly hard to photograph well, for a number of reasons. They don’t like to be approached too closely. Also, they are often overhead in the buddleia, putting them against a bright sky background. Finally, they hide on the other side of flowers and turn so that their wings are seen from the edge, instead of nicely displayed. This picture does a pretty good job of showing the pattern on the underside of the wings of this male monarch.

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Colorful Sea Foam

Colorful Sea Foam

Colorful Sea Foam

It was a rainy day today, not raining all day but off an on. We did go out on the beach but the surf was rough and the cross-beach current strong so we didn’t stay out in it very long. This picture is from a walk along the beach, looking down at a bit of sea foam washed in with a wave. From a distance, the foam is a fairly uniform grey, but up close it’s a rainbow of colors. I think that’s like a lot of what we see in life. From a distance, it isn’t very interesting. But when you get to know a subject or even more so a person, you start to see all the various colors, which is what makes the subject, or person, really interesting.

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