It’s well into summer, and I have done very little bug hunting. In spite of having acquired a macro lens for Christmas… Money can buy stuff. What it can’t buy is time. I mean, I keep seeing this nifty pen set I’d like, and I have money in the art account, but… But I don’t have the time. So I made a little time, while sitting on the porch chatting with the First Reader. We’d lapsed into mutual silence, reading, as we often do when the day is over and we’ve both talked our fill. But I looked up and thought – there’s still light. The camera is on my desk, I can do this. 

His comment, sometime later as I came back to sit with him again, was that he thinks I’d be happiest if I could do this for oh, an hour every day. Chase the tiny things, lie in the grass, prowl the brushline for interesting models. 

Probably. I was certainly feeling happy about having done it. 

The moral, if there is one? Take a little you time, do something you love, even if for only thirty minutes or so. I doubt bug hunting is your thing, but I’m sure you have that itch to practice your craft from time to time… give in to it. 

A member of the slant-faced grasshopper clan, this Short-winged Green Grasshopper is a common yard denizen.
The shed exoskeleton of a spider dangled in a web, waving in the breeze like laundry out to dry.
These aphids don’t seem to ‘get’ camouflage. But that bright orange droplet is being exuded to ward off predators – it contains a nasty stinky liquid.
The ladybug on the prowl, just a few stems away from those aphids.
A juvenile House Cricket. Fuzzy, just like a kitten!
Back inside later to stretch out with my photos and the book for identifying some of the critters I’d spotted.
note the large pedipalps of this spider – Might be Lycosidea, might be Dolomedes, I didn’t get a good shot of his eyes – that mark him as male.
You can see my reflection in the polished armor of this Japanese Beetle. Shame they are such pests, with that pretty metallic coating.
The tiny details you can see when you really get close…
Aft first I thought it was a fly, then I looked closer and it seems to have four wings. I’ll have to try for a better look another time to identify this pretty black-winged guy.
Firefly on a coreopsis
I initially thought she was carrying an egg sac, but when I looked at the photo, I think it’s just her abdomen markings.

Comments

12 responses to “Bug Hunt”

  1. Draven Avatar
    Draven

    huh… i’ve only used the macro converters for my Nikon for product photography.

    1. I have macro extensions, and a reverse ring adapter, but I indulged in an actual macro lens… and I use it mostly on manual focus, because it gets cranky about moving subjects. So I wind up shooting about ten takes for every one that works – and you’ll note some of these are softer than they ought to be. I freehand. Some insect photographers chill their subject to keep them from moving fast (or at all) and use tripods. *shrugs* I’m too lazy for that method.

      1. Draven Avatar
        Draven

        i needed to be able to take pictures of computer components and inside computer cases in a kitchen, inside my ‘white box’ (made of foamcore and gaffer tape)

        1. And for that the extensions are more than adequate and far cheaper. I think one of my sets was $25, and the lens was $200 (used, bought from a friend).

          1. Draven Avatar
            Draven

            yep. I also have a Nikon to MFT lens converter and speed booster for our BMD camera.

  2. John in Philly Avatar
    John in Philly

    The beetle has mother nature’s metallic paint job, and yes it does look beautiful.
    My inner child mind insisted on adding to the post title.
    “Is this going to be a standup fight, sir, or another bug hunt?”

    1. Draven Avatar
      Draven

      Knock it off, Hicks.

    2. LOL!

      You know, the emerald beetle elytra are used in jewelry, I could use my Japanese Beetles for something after all!

  3. Robert Evans Avatar
    Robert Evans

    The orange dot behind the head of your unidentied fly makes me think of a love bug (Plecia Nearctica), but not quite.

    1. No, the eyes aren’t right. That was the first thing I was looking at, along with Snipe Flies. Chrysopilus thoracicus I’ve photographed before and they are close (https://bugguide.net/node/view/3632). But I think that this may be hymenoptera, not dipteran.

    2. And looking through Bugguide, it may be an Argid Sawfly. https://bugguide.net/node/view/530297