This another tiny Crab Spider (Thomisidae) waiting for prey on a leaf of Coast Live Oak (Quercus agrifolia, Fagaceae). I honestly don't know what prey it expects to find here, but I've seen several of these spiders on oak leaves lately - there must be something. The general hairiness of the spider suggests that it is genus Mecaphesa - again. The spider is about 900 pixels long in my original photo at 1:1 magnification, so I figure it's 3.5 mm long - a bit over 1/8 inch. (See here for how I figure.) Those odd hairs on the leaf are the star-like stellate hairs that these leaves have. Arachtober 19. (San Marcos Pass, 18 October 2017)

Inspired from Cal Redback's "Tree Beard" porject

www.behance.net/gallery/20482451/Treebeard

This is a tiny mushroom growing from a fallen leaf of Coast Live Oak (Quercus agrifolia, Fagaceae). I put my pen in the photo for scale, with a 0.7 mm ball - about half the size of the mushroom cap. If you want to be exact, the mushroom is about 400 pixels across in this 1:1 macro shot, which comes to about comes to about 1.6 mm. (See here for how I figured.) This is also my photo for the Macro Mondays group. The theme this week is "Redux 2016" aka "My Favorite Theme of the Year", and I reckon the theme "It's Alive" (Dec. 12) covers most of my photos, including this one. It might also fit the theme "Pencils, Pens, Erasers and/or Paperclips" (Oct. 10). I've only been participating in the group for two weeks, so I picked a theme I've used before. HMM! (San Marcos Pass, 25 December 2016)

(Hah - I just noticed that my photo is pretty suggestive too, but that was not one of the categories!)

Today was a nice enough day to be out with my camera, but it was cold - in the 20's last night, and only up to the low 40s today. It was icy this morning. The radar loop shows a cloud mass moving towards us, but the forecast says it will remain off the coast. Who's right?? It's cloudy right now, which may warm it up a bit - if it doesn't bring more rain!

I feel you Tree Beard… I feel you. There's a time to be idle, but that time is not now...

Theme: Upon These Pages

Year Sixteen Of My 365 Project

...of Kampinos Wood :)

Kampinos National Park, Poland.

If you look close under its head, you can see that this large spider has captured a small prey - like a tiny corncob. This is the same impressive Crab Spider (Thomisidae) that I've been showing in this photo and several more lately, taken in the woods today. It's prey seems to be a small grub of some kind. It's interesting that this particular plant stem is running out of flowers, so is the spider now digging for grubs within the old flower heads instead of waiting for prey on fresh flowers? It will also be interesting to see what it does next. (San Marcos Pass, 2 October 2020)

This was my entry to Round 3 of the MELO (Middle Earth LEGO Olympics), and I'd say I'm happy with it. Sorry for not being active recently, I've been really busy, and there's a heat wave where i live right now so it's a little hot for building. But, I can say that I did a late 4th of July sort of build that I'll be posting soon. :)

Scanned lith print.

Mamiya 645 ProTL w/ M-S 120 mm/f4 macro.

Aug 8, 2021.

Fomapan 100 in Rodinal 1+100, semistand 1 h.

Lith printed on Maco Expo G2 FB (Moersch Easy Lith/SE 5) and toned in Moersch MT7 Iron Blue toner (incl the clearing supplied with the kit). Finally toned in Lead Acetate 1+1 (Moersch).

Nov 2022.

PS borders.

Surprising pattern discovered after development - an Ent is living in the peeling paint of my garden shed!

Thanks, J.R.R. Tolkien.

I put a small piece of pepper jack cheese on a branch of native Greenbark Ceanothus (Ceanothus spinosus, Rhamnaceae) that was inhabited by ants and aphids to see what would happen. The ants literally dropped their aphids to go for the cheese! Look, you can see a couple of stranded aphids just below the center. I believe the ants are the California Velvety Tree Ant (Liometopum occidentale, Dolichoderinae). I'm not sure what kind of aphids these are, but I'm pretty sure they become the black aphids in this photo. I don't really approve of baiting for photos, but this is my photo for the Macro Mondays group, with the theme of "Say Cheese!" This was really just a quick shot to test my idea, but the weather turned funky this week with rain and gloom, so here it is. HMM! (San Marcos Pass, 1 February 2017)

Please View On Black

Sequoia Beach Dreamery ~ Cazadero, California

For rental information check out this link:

rentals.riverhomes.com/rns/search/SequoiaBeachDreamery.aspx

○•. Taken with an iPhone .•○

" Le monde est en mutation : je le sens dans l'eau, je le sens dans la terre, je le sens dans l'air "

(Le Seigneur des Anneaux)

Treebeard, leader of the Ents and keeper of the forest of Fandorn (The Lord of the Rings)

"The world is changing : I feel it in the water, I feel it in the ground, I feel it in the air "

Taken the year before last in Shropshire.

Low light, no tripod :)

Here is a tiny Orb-Weaver Spider (Araneidae) on its nest of native California Buckwheat (Eriogonum fasciculatum, Polygonaceae) that's gone to seed in the woods today. I'm guessing that it's genus Eustala, and maybe species Eustala rosae, compare this photo. The buckwheat flowers are now turning brown as they go to seed, but as the local Santa Barbara author Stewart Edward White once wrote: "The brown of California is the brown of ripeness; not of decay." Arachtober 18. (San Marcos Pass, 18 October 2022)

Ahem. 'Beneath the roof of sleeping... leaves and dreams of trees untold, When woodland halls are... green... and cool, and the wind is in the west, Come back to me... Come... back... to me, And say my land is... best.' - Treebeard

Feel It

Baumbart von J. R. R. Tolkien

Copyright MMX by mcPhotoArts

All rights reserved.

One has to wonder what the smaller tree did to run afoul of Treebeard so early in the morning.

I've waited for the right conditions to take this composition for most of this year. I'm not sure I have it quite the way I want it yet, but I think it's working. :)

This is a mass of Braconid Wasp (Braconidae, Hymenoptera) pupal cases on a still-living caterpillar of a Variable Checkerspot (Euphydryas chalcedona) butterfly. I found this under a new leaf of a Southern Bush Monkey Flower (Mimulus aurantiacus var. pubescens, Phrymaceae) shrub. The tiny wasps deposit their eggs through the skin of the caterpillar. The eggs hatch and the larvae develop inside the caterpillar - like the movie Alien. Finally the larvae leave the caterpillar and spin their silk cocoons. The caterpillar is still alive - I could see it moving - but it didn't last long and dropped away by the next day, see this photo. This must be why the caterpillars are so spiky - to keep the wasps away. It might work as I don't find many of these caterpillars that have been "cocooned" like this. (San Marcos Pass, 28 April 2017)

This is my photo for the Macro Mondays group, with the theme of "Crime" - and indeed a crime has been committed here, at least from the point of view of the caterpillar. (I'm sure the wasps see it differently!) The perpetrator is not to be seen, but the pupal cases are indisputable evidence of its work. HMM!

"Tree? I am no tree. I am an Ent."

"Treebeard some call me."

The Lord of the Rings - "The Last March of the Ents "

Lord of the RIngs OST

Visit this location at The Shire - A homely slice of Middle Earth in Second Life

Here is a handsome fly (Diptera) tangled up in a spider web. The fly is a Stiletto Fly in the family Therevidae, Diptera - an uncommon fly in our mountains, and I wonder what twist of fate brought it to this end. The web belongs to a large Araneus spider that I've been watching, see this photo and this photo. Arachtober 16b and HFDF! (San Marcos Pass, 15 October 2020)

"The filth of Saruman is washing away." - Treebeard

20 years ago today, the final chapter in the Lord of the Rings film saga led by Peter Jackson was released in cinemas worldwide. For the third year celebrating these films, a group of collaborators came together to build scenes from the movie, all tagged in the post above. We wanted to honor the hard work of Jackson and his production team's work, as well as the epic storytelling ability of J.R.R. Tolkien.

I built a scene from the extended edition of ROTK, depicting Saruman's death after being betrayed and stabbed by Wormtongue before falling from Orthanc to his death onto a piece of orc machinery in the flooded courtyard below. This was built and photographed all at once in about 4 hours, keeping true to my tendency to procrastinate. The weird gray piece in the foreground is my attempt to try a new smoke technique, but I think it needs refinement, either from piece usage or editing in PS afterwards.

Also, I drew heavy inspiration from @forlornempire 's version of this scene too, which he did an incredible job with.

I hope you enjoy, and Merry Christmas!

Maranatha

Here is a gorgeous Swallowtail (Papilio) butterfly working our one new flower (so far) of California Thistle (Cirsium occidentale var. californicum, Asteraceae) in the woods today - but what kind of swallowtail is it? This one has cream colors, but it lacks the bright yellow wings of the Western Tiger Swallowtail (Papilio rutulus) in this photo. I reckon this one is a Pale Swallowtail (Papilio eurymedon) butterfly like the ones in this photo on a different thistle that really are black and white, but the cream colors of this one are confusing. Is there some other mark besides color to tell them apart?? Yes, moving the caterpillar yesterday seems to have worked to save the flower, see this photo of the problem. (San Marcos Pass, 28 May 2020)

It was cooler today, but still up to near 80 degrees, quite pleasant. There was an annoying breeze from the south for much of the day that felt like "fog winds" without the fog. Tomorrow might be 10 degrees cooler again, and we might have some real marine-layer fog in the morning.

Here is a spider web with raindrops - "catenaries and [tiny] dirigibles" as Joanna Newsom sings. There's no spider to be seen, but maybe this is the work of a Cobweb Spider (Theridiidae) with that haphazard web? It doesn't really matter, but I believe the shrub is an interesting Shreve Oak (Quercus parvula var. shrevei, Fagaceae) with leaves that are smooth and shiny underneath, see this photo - and ignore what I call it there. There was gloom, drizzle, and wind this morning - all at the same time. I did the best I could for photos. Arachtober 30. (San Marcos Pass, 30 October 2016)

Treebeard told the Hobbits that there weren't many Ents left because all the Entmaidens and Entwives had gone away and the Ents could not find them.

LOTR

Charlie Brown and Treebeard (Lord of the Rings)

Must be seen Large !

Old dead Gum trees on the shores of Lake Bonney in South Australia. The town of Barmera in the background.

Converted to BW with Silver Efex2

Here is another one of those remarkable Bee Flies (order Bombyliidae, Diptera) that seems to have eyes on its rear end - probably Geminaria canalis, see this photo. This one was working a flower cluster of native Coyote Mint aka White-leaf Monardella (Monardella hypoleuca, Lamiaceae) a few feet away, but it would retreat to this sandstone outcrop when I got too close. I spent some time photographing the fly, and it retreated to this rock several times. I finally had a chance to measure the fly in another photo today taken at 1:1 magnification - it's about 1680 pixels long, which comes to 6.6 mm, about 1/4 inch. (See here for how I figured.) Hah - its proboscis is another 1060 pixels long, which comes to 4.2 mm - almost another 3/16 inch! The faux eyes on its rear end really are remarkable. They shine just like Jumping Spider (Salticidae) eyes, and even have dark areas on the side to suggest more of the spider's eight eyes. And the fly's colors are pretty good camouflage on this sandstone rock all alone. I almost forgot, that black "thing" above the fly that looks like charcoal is a small crustose lichen. (East Camino Cielo, Santa Ynez Mountains, 12 August 2018)

For the free round of MELO2025 I built Luthien hanging out in Neldoreth.

”To the beeches of Neldoreth I came in the Autumn

Ah! the gold and the red and the sighing of leaves in the Autumn in Taur-na-neldor!

It was more than my desire.”

-Treebeard’s song-

It was in the Forest of Neldoreth that Lúthien was born and also under the trees of Neldoreth that Beren first beheld Lúthien dancing in the moonlight.

I happened to notice this tiny Crab Spider (Thomisidae) on a plant of native Sawtooth Goldenbush (Hazardia squarrosa, Asteraceae) today. Look at those swollen palps and see this photo. I'm sure this one is male, probably the same genus Mecaphesa I've been finding on his plant and elsewhere. This spider is smaller than the usual crab spiders I find, but has longer front legs. I guess this is sexual dimorphism - vive la différence! For an extreme case, compare this photo and my [Next] photo! Arachtober 31. (San Marcos Pass, 31 October 2016)

Here are two shots of tiny "Calochortus Bees" (my name) on petals of a fantastic summer flower of native Late-flowered Mariposa Lily (Calochortus fimbriatus) in the Liliaceae plant family. These bees are quite shy, and I never did get an acceptable photo of a whole bee today, but it was interesting how often I caught them looking right at me like in these shots. I believe the bees are subgenus Pygoperdita of the genus Perdita of the Andrenidae - maybe Perdita californica or P. calochorti. I don't find these bees anywhere else than these flowers, and the flowers don't last very long - see this photo from last year of a bee waiting for an unopened flower bud to open. I was looking for these bees today, but the flowers are just starting and it was breezy. I'll go back to this place in the next day or two and try again. (East Camino Cielo, Santa Ynez Mountains, 16 July 2019)

Juanar castaño y orion

Be careful little bees - some of those flowers have claws!

This is a small Pacific Ambush Bug (Phymata pacifica, Phymatidae, Heteroptera, Hemiptera) sitting on a staminate flower of Ms. Plummer's Baccharis aka Smooth Baccharis (Baccharis plummerae) in the Asteraceae plant family. They are predators that can bring down prey much larger than they are, see this photo. Yep, they have crab claws! (East Camino Cielo, Santa Ynez Mountains, 31 July 2016)

It was hazy and cooler today - and quite breezy. I went into the higher mountains to see what I could find.

Treebeard before he could grow a beard

"It takes a long time to say anything in Old Entish. And we never say anything unless it is worth taking a long time to say."

Here is another photo of a little Labyrinth Spider (genus Metepeira, Araneidae), with raindrops. I have another photo of the same spider a week ago here. For some reason, the spider came out of its house for our rain last night and today. Arachtober 28. (San Marcos Pass, 28 October 2016)

Yep, we did get some real rain last night, but the totals were disappointing - only about 1/2 inch, less than was forecast. We did have some great thunder and lightning to go with the rain, something you notice at 2:30 in the morning! Curiously, it stayed cloudy and there was no wind today after the storm. There's a 30% chance of a bit more rain Saturday night or Sunday.

"When Winter comes, and singing ends; when darkness falls at last;

When broken is the barren bough, and light and labour past;

I'll look for thee, and wait for thee, until we meet again:

Together we will take the road beneath the bitter rain!

Together we will take the road that leads into the West,

And far away will find a land where both our hearts may rest."

-J.R.R.Tolkien

I've been lamenting that I didn't get any acceptable photos of Jumping Spiders (Salticidae) during the month of Arachtober - I've seen a few, but no photos - and now on the last day I got a photo! I noticed a rolled up leaf on a shrub of California Coffeeberry (Frangula californica, Rhamnaceae) today, and there was this tiny spider inside. I had to use flash to get some light into the tube, but it's a nice hiding place. I've also spotted these spiders hiding under leaves to stay out of the rain in Oregon, see this photo. I wonder how long this one will stay here? Arachtober 31b. (San Marcos Pass, 31 October 2019)

This is a spring-like tendril of Wild Cucumber aka Chilicothe or Manroot (Marah macrocarpus) in the Cucurbitaceae plant family growing over dead stems in the woods. You can see a bit of the growing plant below. The coiled tendrils are neat. If you start at that flat place in the center of the tendril, you can see that they twist clockwise to the left and counterclockwise to the right. You can see more of the plant in my [Next] photo, here. This is my photo for the Macro Mondays group, with the theme of "contraptions". Is this spring-like coil really a contraption? Well, it's certainly a mechanism, so HMM! (San Marcos Pass, 24 January 2017)

This tiny critter is as small as some of the mushrooms and slime molds I've been showing lately! I believe it's a Slender Springtail in the family Entomobryidae of the class Collembola - possibly genus Entomobrya. It's so tiny that this is a 1:1 800x1066 crop from my 6000x4000 original photo taken as a 1:1 macro shot - it's about 450 pixels long, which comes to about comes to about 1.7 mm, about 1/16 inch. (See here for how I figured.) I got this photo above our retaining wall in deep shade. The insect is near the edge of a green leaf of California Honeysuckle (Lonicera hispidula, Caprifoliaceae), and it didn't hop away from me. It's kind of cute for being so tiny! (San Marcos Pass, 18 December 2018)

www.gerardmcgrathphotography.com// ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. If you are interested in using my images, please flickrmail me

I found this tiny Green Lynx Spider (Peucetia, Oxyopidae) among the spent flowers of native Telegraph Weed (Heterotheca grandiflora) in the Asteraceae plant family - with a tiny prey! It looks it's the same spider that I showed in this photo, but it was about 20 feet away. Arachtober 10. (San Marcos Pass, 10 October 2021)

This is my entry for the Middle Earth Lego Olympics 2017. In the first round, we had to build something from a poem or a song.

I decided my for the Treebeards Song :

In the willow-meads of Tasarinan I walked in the Spring.

Ah! the sight and the smell of the Spring in Nantasarion!

And I said that was good.

I wandered in summer in the elm-woods of Ossiriand.

Ah! the light and the music in the Summer by the Seven Rivers of Ossir!

And I thought that was best.

To the beeches of Neldoreth I came in the Autumn.

Ah! the gold and the red and the sighing leaves in the

Autumn in Taur-na-neldor!

It was more than my desire.

To the pine trees upon the highland of Dorthonion

I climbed in the winter.

Ah! the wind and the whiteness and the black branches of Winter upon Orod-na-Thon!

My voice went up and sang in the sky.

And now all those lands lie under the wave

And I walk in Ambarona, in Tauremorna, in Aldalome,

In my own land in the country of Fangorn,

Where the roots are long,

And the years lie thicker than the leaves

in Tauremornalomee

Here is a link to the poem:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=j5m0Z-kkYHk

My build shows Treebeard, the leader of the Ents with Pippin and Merry on him.

I hope you like it, let me know ;)

Greetings KevFett2011

This is a little Jumping Spider (Salticidae) on a leaf of Coast Live Oak (Quercus agrifolia, Fagaceae) in the woods today. It might be female Pelegrina aeneola spider, compare this photo and this photo. HBBBT! (San Marcos Pass, 3 February 2022)