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I've always been fascinated by these metallic, shiny bees with their colorful thorax and head. Apparently there is blue-colored variety also, but I don't think I've ever seen them around here. I found this one on a Sedum floret and I am thrilled with how the colors turned out here.
Quite a bit smaller than a honeybee, these green bees are normally buzzing about freneticlly and I have a hard time getting a clean and clear capture of them. Fortunately when I took this picture yesterday it was fairly cool, about 58 degrees F., which slows down the metabolism of the insects, making it much easier to photography.
I think it was resting or actually sleeping, since it was hardly moving. Talk about the perfect insect model. As a macro photographer this was a dream scenario, and I fired off WAY more images than I really needed :)
They're called sweat bees since they like to land on human skin to feed on the salt from our perspiration. They do have stingers, but they rarely sting humans and only do so when pressed against the skin. Also, they have one of the weakest stings in the bee kingdom, probably due to a weak formula in their natural poison.
Enjoy the image, and have a great week everyone!
HORACIO PATRONE : NIKON D 500 LENS MICRO NIKON CRISTAL 55.2.8 AIS . fotografia Horacio Patrone.. BUENOS AIRES...Argentina.RESERVA COSTANERA NORTE .
-Thanks for your visits and comments ...!
This spider is not only beautiful but also deadly. It can spin a web of golden silk that is strong enough to trap small birds and bats. Its venom can cause intense pain, swelling, and necrosis. Do you dare to get closer?
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© Raul Zaldivar 2023, unless otherwise noted, may not be copied, downloaded, blogged, distributed, or reproduced in any form without the express written consent of Raul Zaldivar.
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File Name: NZ6_2842
Polydamas caterpillars are the larvae of the polydamas swallowtail butterfly, which belongs to the family Papilionidae.
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© All Rights Reserved All Photos contained within this page are
© Raul Zaldivar 2023, unless otherwise noted, may not be copied, downloaded, blogged, distributed, or reproduced in any form without the express written consent of Raul Zaldivar.
Please do not post extensive group banners, advertising for groups, or any other pictures in the comment's column. They impair the reading pleasure of the others.
Thank you!
File Name: NZ6_2986
Venturing across the dunes at Perran Sands in Cornwall I saw hundreds of dainty silver-studds. It was amazing to see and I’m guessing there must be thousands there.
Update : 100,000 from someone’s estimated calculated count.
Here’s a stunning mating pair with the brown female looking similar to a Brown Argus.
#butterfly #butterflyconservation #silverstuddedblue #cornwall
I spent some time last week at a nature reserve and came across this beetle perched atop some Goldenrod buds. Many of the plants had already burst into their bright golden sprays and were teeming with these beetles.
Goldenrod is the beetle's favorite plant and it is named after it for that reason. They do not bite or sting and neither are they destructive to the plant, so they are not considered a pest or harmful.
I'm quite taken by their colors and their wing patterns.
They fly from plant to plant and move around quickly, requiring a fast shutter speed.
Enjoy with me a new insect I've discovered :)
In the words of Marvin Gaye...Let’s Get It On or maybe a little Bloodhound Gang...You and me baby ain't nothin' but damselflies…
#macro #macrophotography #magicmacroworld #macro_spotlight #macro_vision #macro_highlight #macro_perfection #igbest_macros #macrogrammers #macro_captures #macro_love #kings_macro #macro_delight #macro_brilliance #macro_freaks #top_macro #insects_macro #macro_world #macronature #dragonflies #dragonfly #dragonflymating #damselfly #bluedamselfly #damselflymating #insectworld #insectsupclose #total_dragonflies
This isn't one of the best of my archived images, but I remember why I kept it and now why I'm posting it. On the left a vibrant Flame Skimmer, probably no more than a week old. On the right, a Widow Skimmer just emerged from its nymph shell. I was there when it was climbing up the branch over the lake as a nymph. Normally, it would have emerged just after leaving the water, but this one decided to climb to the end and begin his adventure. Unfortunately I left my camera in the car and had to run (I could in those days) to get the camera. By the time I came back, he had emerged, but he was not fully "inflated" (they pump blood into all parts of the body and then let the carapace harden). The arrow points to the nymph's shell. The (smaller) Flame Skimmer showed up just as I came back to get the Widow Skimmer. Skimmers normally feed in the air, mostly mosquitos and gnats; the Whitetail probably had nothing to worry about ... if dragonflies worry at all.
Butterfly ID: Common Blue (m)
Scientific Name: Polyommatus Icarus
Butterfly Family: Lycaenidae - Gossamer Winged
UK butterfly Conservation priority: least concern
Fun Fact: Butterflies taste with their Feet - They have taste receptors on their feet to help them locate food
Here’s a small section of a wonderful colourful meadow.
I experimented with a shallow depth of field with my landscape lens focusing on the bee coated Sunflowers that have suddenly started to appear. There was no sun on this particular morning but that didn’t matter; The field still looked splendid.
This has to be one of my favourite Damselfly photos I’ve taken this season.
Laying in the wet grass is becoming a very familiar pastime photographing these dainty little Damselflies. I may take up yoga with all the peculiar contorted body shapes I create to frame a shot. It’s not exactly a cool Vogue ‘Strike a Pose’ moment.♂️
I’m very happy with the way this one turned out.
*The timing, precision and patience is so important to achieve an image like this and the enjoyment of course*
Techy info.
Controlling the exposure was tricky shooting directly into the sun with the limitations of the camera shooting at 1/8000s at iso50. Unexpectedly the damselfly actually flapped it’s wings at high speed for a split second. I was able to capture them without blurring because of such a high shutter speed. I must admit I was lucky🍀 because I wouldn’t normally shoot a still object with these settings but was forced to in such bright light trying to control the exposure.
The image on the screen of the camera looked very overexposed but it’s amazing the detail you can recover shooting in raw format. In post processing I moved the highlights slider all the way to the left and the wings surprisingly appeared. I looked at the sequence of shots hoping for one with splashes of dew flying off the hovering wings. Now that would have been special!
📍Stover Country Park, Devon
📷 Canon 5D mkiii
🔘 Canon EF 100mm f2.8L Macro IS USM + extension tubes
#damselfly #dragonflysociety #emeralddanselfly #stoverpark #macrophotography #morningdew #silhouette
This plant has many names and some of them are “Staggerwort, Cankerwort, Stinking Nanny, Dog Standard etc” and there are quite a few others that I have not mentioned, I wondered why the plant had the word ‘stinking’ within its name and apparently this is because the leaves have a very unpleasant smell. This plant has toxic effects on cattle and horses if eaten in large amount, but it is of great value to the insect world, and is considered one of the top plants for nectar production, and in the UK it is suggested that at least 77 insect species benefit from this plant and one insect that is totally reliant on this plant is the ‘Cinnabar Moth’.
Battus philenor, the pipevine swallowtail or blue swallowtail, is a swallowtail butterfly found in North America and Central America. This butterfly is black with iridescent-blue hindwings. They are found in many different habitats, but are most commonly found in forests.
An early rise to catch this Marble White covered with the the morning dew drops in some beautiful light.
#butterfly #butterflyconservation #marbledwhite #earlymorningdew #sunrise #summermeadow
Well hello little guy...
📷 Nikon D7200
🔎 Sigma 150-600mm f/5-6.3 Contemporary
#macro #macrophotography #magicmacroworld #macro_spotlight #macro_vision #macro_highlight #macro_perfection #igbest_macros #macrogrammers #macro_captures #macro_love #kings_macro #macro_delight #macro_brilliance #macro_freaks #top_macro #insects_macro #macro_world #macronature #ladybird #ladybird🐞 #ladybirdflower #insectworld #insectsupclose #bbcwildlifepotd @total_insects
The Speckled Wood Butterfly (Pararge aegeria) @ the Valley Gardens in Harrogate, North Yorkshire, UK
The very distinctive Jersey Tiger Moth (Euplagia quadripunctaria) on a hot summer day near Salcombe Hill, Sidmouth, Devon, UK
Small (Cabbage) White Butterfly (Pieris rapae) on a hot summer day near Salcombe Hill, Sidmouth, Devon, UK
The name certainly does not describe how stunningly beautiful these elusive butterflies are. The species spend most of their life in treetops where they feed on aphid honeydew. They are rarely seen at eye level, mainly when the female decides to lay eggs. After many hot gruelling days specifically searching for the Brown Hairstreak in Devonshire hedgerows I was lucky to see one for a few seconds. A first for me and I expect not the last now I’m hooked.
~ Catching a free ride on this praying mantis is ECO friendly. ~
Canon with 90mm Tamron macro
430EX flash with a light chute.
Monday's here..... and so am I.
Long weekend with a list from the Mrs. left me dangling from Flickr for a day. But now all duties are done, I'm safe to play for another day.
I wish everyone a great start to a fantastic new week.
My little story of Ants
It was on 31st of March, afternoon, pre-lunch, temperatures soaring to 37 degrees Celsius, when I decided to transfer my plants to a cooler place. Just when I lifted one of the pots I noticed a colony of red ants with their eggs and imagos, a little disapproved of my move to remove their shelter, waiting all confused deciding of their next move.
At first I was perplexed and didn’t know what to do. And I finally decided to let them be. Soon the agitated colony, started scattering out in search of safe places carrying their eggs and imagos. When I observed a little closer into their overall behaviours, I found something amazing and fascinating, which I had never experienced before. With an initial disorganized and unplanned move, the worker ants quickly started coordinating themselves by their unique ways of communications, and started planned movements towards three-four nearest hiding places. They were quickly evacuating the place carrying all their essentials.
I did not waste any time to bring out my macro lens to investigate the finer details of their challenging behaviours through the viewfinder of my DSLR.
Suddenly, I observed two comparatively much larger individuals amongst them, having many different features compared to the others. Most possibly they were females (which I confirmed later by their characteristic features from Google), staying lethargic amidst the dispersing colony, but always surrounded by some busy workers. They were constantly looking after them (which I later knew as the princess of a newly forming colony migrating for a different kingdom), and not leaving apart, like the other members being engaged in allocating their all essential objects.
They were constantly attending, caring, and communicating with their antennas, and surely by means of many other communication systems, easily surpassing my bare human senses. The big-headed soldiers were never found either attending the queen or carrying their babies. Instead, they were found mostly agitated and alert, doing frequent communications with the workers and possibly the young soldiers. The workers were found doing the major task.
A span of few minutes happened like an amazing drama. The whole story raised innumerable quests most of which will probably remain unfolded.
What I understood at a glance, is that I saw only the visible portion of an iceberg!
This is an endless world of animal behavioural science. Scientists spare almost a life to understand a little bit of it. But I learnt one thing that how organized, disciplined, coordinated, intelligent, dutiful, and loyal these tiny creatures could be!
I saw some of them dragging carcasses of their colony mates with them, to their new places. I couldn’t believe this. What will they do with these carcasses? It didn’t seem like they’d eat them! I don’t know of any practices of cannibalism in them. Then, why? Do they have rituals? Or is it cause of hygiene? I had been there for like 40 minutes, watching them, through my lens, where even the tiniest creature looked pretty magnified, and I came to a simple conclusion. Forty years through the pages of many encyclopedias couldn’t give me what I got today, in 40 minutes.
Unfortunately, my DSLR battery ran extremely low, and I wasn’t being able to focus my macro lens so quickly on target. With such frustrations, I took a number of snaps, of many being out of focus. I have uploaded a few selected ones. I admit that the qualities of the images are not good enough, but they are not bad enough to tell my little story. Still images only represent glimpses. But the whole event was truly wonderful. I could not manage to bring out my stand within time for steady macros and videos. I know, I really missed the opportunity of better documentation.
It is quite possible that my little story is already a known fact to the naturalists, but these were all my discoveries to my unknown world.
Please read my little story before you pass on to my images. Wish you may enjoy my little effort.
Thanks.
One of my favourite spring time images that I've taken during the past couple of years. Taken amongst the daffodils in Normanby Park.
Whilst I was sat amongst the daffodils, the ladybirds were out in force, getting some sunshine and walking all over the flowers.
Taken on a Sony A700 at f5 1/500sec at 100mm macro.
All my images are processed to look their best on my monitor – they may appear slightly darker/lighter on other screens depending on your display settings.
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