Thanks to the many people who sent me photos for this feature; I hope we can keep it going. (I had to abandon the “photos of readers” features as we ran out of submissions.)
We have a new contributor today: Bruce Budris from New York State. His captions and IDs are indented
With all of the extra time spent at home this year, I decided to finally try my hand at photographing insects in our backyard garden as well as on our family walks through Columbia County’s (NY) numerous conservation areas (clctrust.org). Also, it gives my son a chance to earn a little extra allowance by helping me find new and interesting insects to photograph 🙂
The first photo is a Robber Fly or “gnat ogre” (Holcocephala fusca) with noms perched on a Tulsi flower. Of the robber fly species I’ve photographed, this is probably the smallest at about 1 cm in length.
Next is a Bold Jumping Spider (Phidippus audax), who was kind enough to model her iridescent chelicerae for me. The behavior of jumping spiders is always entertaining. Whenever there was a visitor to the flower she would climb up the outside and just peer over the top to see if the visitor was a candidate. After a steady stream of large bumblebees however, she decided to move on.
Next is a tiny sweat bee with stunning metallic coloring covered in the pollen of a nine-bark flower (Augochlora pura).
A pair of Fourteen-spotted Lady Beetles (Propylea quatuordecimpunctata), too busy to notice my presence:
An adult Pale-Green Assassin Bug (Zelus luridus) on the prowl at night. Even by predatory insect standards, these guys are definitely badass.
A Ferruginous Tiger Crane Fly (Nephrotoma ferruginea) lying in wait on a Wine bush leaf:
Lastly, a head-shot of a surprisingly cooperative female Blue Dasher dragonfly (Pachydiplax longipennis):
For anyone who wonders about the strange face plate on dragon flies, when you see them mate you will understand!
Wonderful macro photos!
Very good pictures! I very much admire your work.
The phidippus brought back wonderful memories. It was the first spider that didn’t terrify me. Of course, I was being formally educated about spiders at the time. Great pictures.
Great metallic bee! I love those things. Many species, and both males and females are seen out on flowers and they can look like different species.
Excellent!
You are an exciting addition to the contributors here. This is top-quality work, hope to see more of it.
Wonderful photos. Thanks
These are outstanding, Bruce! Many thanks!
Thanks for the eye candy Bruce…if these are your first insect photos, you’re a natural.
Absolutely fantastic. I printed out two for my wall (I’m 50 but my wife still lets me tape pics up on my wall).
Your camerawork is intimidatingly good. I have a praying mantis shot I was going to send in but I’m not sure now.
Keep up the good bug-gery (hehhe) shots of the insects and sending them in for us to enjoy.
D.A., NYC
Excellent macros, thanks.
Great shots, particularly like the sweat bee and jumping spider!