Lots of little critters were out today ... (click images to see more of nature's art)
L to R: Root Borer, Leatherwing, Plant Bug, and likely a Tarnished Plant Bug
It wasn't until this year that I started exploring macro photography. It all began with one bee that I was photographing in February of 2011. I followed the bee around from branch to branch, thrilled to be seeing a bee in winter. She led me to her thriving bee hive in a nearby tree. Since that day, I began photographing bees and soon found all kinds of bugs to photograph. It's a fascinating, and quite secret little world out there all around us if we care to pay attention.
Plant Bug (could be a Tarnished Plant Bug)
I've watched bugs interacting with each other. I've seen a mosquito on a flower with two different kinds of bees. The three of them were tolerating each other, but one bee was the alpha bee. The mosquito would put its leg on one of the bees every chance it got. It wouldn't leave her leg very long. It was more like reaching out and touching as if to test what was going to happen. The three of them circled the flower for several minutes together. The bees got into a scuffle once, but it ended peacefully. The mosquito stayed back, out of the way and just watched, while the bees rolled around like a couple of guys in a small bar fight. It's amazing to witness the life that these critters live. I've seen dragonflies eating damselflies and damselflies eating other bugs. I've watched spiders and ambush bugs catching bees, and wasps eating some sort of winged insect.
Tarnished Plant Bug
Honey Bee
Jagged Ambush Bug sucking the innards out of a honey bee - September 13, 2011
After an ambush bug catches its prey, " it sucks body fluids by means of its rostellum, or beak. Other types of bugs use this organ for sucking plant juices, but not the ambush bug. These stealthy critters sit very still on or near flowers, their superb camouflage allowing them to remain undetected while an unwitting butterfly or other unfortunate happens by to gather nectar. They then seize their prey using front legs adapted for the task - these legs resemble the front legs of the praying mantis. It is a ferocious bug indeed that takes prey 10 times its own size." Source: http://www.cirrusimage.com/bugs_ambush.htm
Jagged Ambush Bugs mating
Another Jagged Ambush Bug
by Betsy Seeton
Leatherwing, Plant Bug
by Betsy Seeton
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