Camera Critters #222

I was checking the flowers around the house recently and noticed a very, very tiny bug buried deep inside one of the roses.  So I did what any good critter photographer would do…I grabbed my camera, my close-up filter and headed back to the roses.

I wasn’t sure I would get a good photo of the tiny, little critter, but I did find one I really like.




I think the creature is a House Fly…well, a very tiny House Fly.

Misty Dawn’s Camera Critter Meme is a great way see critters the world over. Go to the homepage here to see more. Then join the fun and add your own.

Camera Critters #221

Friday morning I went outside to check on my Hollyhocks.  It and sunflowers are about the only flowers I really enjoy.  As I looked at the hollyhocks, I noticed a rather strange sight. 

I saw a lot of little bugs on one of my hollyhocks.  Just under an eighth of an inch long, half their length was their nose.  Of course, the first thing I did was grab my camera and screw on my closeup lens.


After I photographed it, I identified it and found ways to remove it from my hollyhocks.  For those of you who don’t know, it is a Hollyhock Weevil.  I believe the one above is a male, as I saw several of the gray colored ones riding the backs of smaller, black weevils.

Misty Dawn’s Camera Critter Meme is a great way see critters the world over. Go to the homepage here to see more. Then join the fun and add your own.

Camera Critters #196

Several years ago, I was walking off trail, along the east wall of the dry canyon near me.  My eyes caught sight of a Sara Orangetip butterfly.  I had been chasing them for two years, and was hoping this was my opportunity to get an image of one.

But as I approached the Lepidoptera, my attention was drawn to a butterfly I had never seen.  I immediately switched gears and turned my attention to this new bug.

Later, I was able to identify the critter as a Zephyr Anglewing.  And so began a quest which continues to this day…photographing as many anglewings as possible.

In the photos below, the first image shows the butterfly with wings closed, the second partially opened and the rest full open.  Note the variations of markings in the critters.

 

For those who have followed my posts from the beginning, you might have seen these images before.  But the butterfly is beautiful, it deserves to be seen again.

Misty Dawn’s Camera Critter Meme is a great way see critters the world over. Go to the homepage here to see more. Then join the fun and add your own.

Camera Critters #55

When I was a kid growing up in a southside of Chicago suburb, myself and friends of mine would go to nearby open fields and catch insects. A special treat for us was a caterpillar. We would put them in a jar, watch them spin a cocoon then later, turn into a butterfly.

We basically knew which caterpillars turned into which butterfly and traded them like baseball cards. You could get two Monarch caterpillars for one Tiger Swallowtail caterpillar. But the real fun was watching them change.

I have since forgotten everything I knew from youth about caterpillars, but I still photograph then when I come across one. Below are some of the caterpillar photos I have taken in the past couple of years. I don't have good reference on them, some day I hope to find a good reference. But for now, I'll let you imagine what they eventually turned into. In my opinion, most of these are probably moth caterpillars.









I hope you enjoyed my post this week. If you would like to see more Camera Critters, just drop by the website here run by Misty Dawn and then join in the fun with an entry of your own.