Central Ohio NatureFlowers and Flies
Posted on June 17, 2019
Exploring the world of insects is an excellent example of how digital photography has opened a door into a world most folks don’t give much thought to much less appreciate. A passion for bugs may start out innocently enough when one decides to photograph a flower and finds that it’s occupied by many creatures not noticed before. A closer look reveals some to be beautiful and fascinating in their own right and others downright scary. This may prompt one to make an effort to identify the bug just photographed which in turn often leads to an awareness of how much there is yet to learn about this small world.
.
Fortunately it doesn’t take an expensive camera to get a reasonable picture of a insect the size of the common house fly. We’re not talking macro-photography here, where one focuses on the dragonfly’s eye, but instead about a picture that will allow you to identify the insect and be good enough to share on social media. Our favorite of the small sensor “bridge cameras” is the Panasonic Lumix FZ200 or 300. With their fast lens and close focus capability they are a great all round camera for anyone starting out in nature photography. When one moves up from there to larger APS-C sensor DSLR’s you are looking at more money and bulk which may limit their appeal on long hikes. In the world of DSLR’s just about any lens similar to the Canon 18-135 mm will allow you to focus close enough to get a reasonably good shot. Longer lenses such as the Tamron 100-400 mm (more money still) will allow you to focus on subjects that won’t let you get close enough with a shorter lens. With it’s close focus capability perhaps the best all round bird/bug nature camera setup I’ve seen is the micro four thirds Panasonic G7 with the 100-400 mm Panasonic/Leica lens that my wife uses. It employs an excellent but smaller sensor than my Canon APS-C which is part of the reason for it’s admirable close focus performance. That being said I’m sure there are excellent camera setups that I’ve not had experience with.
.
Unless stated otherwise the below pictures have all been taken close to home at Griggs Reservoir Park so the adventure doesn’t necessarily mean hours of driving to some exotic location. Almost all insect images have been significantly cropped.
(click on the image for a better view)
.
A Bumble Bee enjoys Foxglove Beardtongue.
An nice illustration of the difference in size between a sweat bee and bumble bee, (Donna).
If you think this is an innocent little Bumble Bee you would be wrong in fact it’s a Bumble Bee Mimic Robber Fly no less ferocious than the one below, (Donna).
A more typical looking robber fly a little over an inch long. If you’re a small insect it will be a bad day if you run into one of these, (Donna).
Four lined Plant Bug, (Donna).
Eight-spotted Forester Moth, (Donna).
.
Thimbleweed.
Moth Mullein, (Donna).
.
A very small but beautiful Long-legged Fly.
It’s a rough world for bugs. A long legged fly falls prey to a robber fly.
.
Water Willow at waters edge. Deer are known to browse the leaves and beaver and muskrat will consume the plant rhizomes. The submerged portion is home to many micro and macro invertebrates, (Donna).
.
Little Wood Satyr.
Painted Lady, one of the most common butterflies found on every continent accept Antarctica and Australia, their favorite food plant on which to lay their eggs is thistle, they do not overwinter and they can have long migrations up to 9,320 miles long, (Donna)
Hackberry Emperor, a butterfly not usually seen on flowers but on a warm day may land on exposed skin, (Donna).
Question Mark, (Donna).
Red Admiral, (Donna).
Silver-spotted Skipper, one of the larger skippers, (Donna)
.
The beautiful flowers of the Milkweed. A very import plant for many insects most notably the Monarch Butterfly.
.
Milkweed Beetles, (Donna).
Great Golden Digger Wasp, (Donna).
Perhaps some type of wood wasp, (Donna).
.
Black-eyed Susan’s.
.
Golden-backed Snipe Fly, they can be found throughout Ohio, and are most often observed resting on low vegetation. They appear in the late spring and early summer, and have been observed mating in late May and early June, although timing likely varies across their range. Little is known about their life cycle.
Small hoverflies on fleabane.
Hoverfly profile.
Two Marked Tree Hopper. Click here to learn more about this fascinating insect.
.
Common Mullein.
Northern Catalpa.
.
Syrphid Fly Yellowjacket Mimic. The syrphid fly often mimics wasps or bees to gain protection from predators, (Donna).
The Green Bottle Fly is usually observed around less savory food items.
.
Black-eyed Susan’s, (Donna).
Depford Pink, (Donna).
.
Mating Candy-striped Leafhoppers, (Donna).
Mirid Plant Bug, (Donna).
.
Butterfly Weed.
A field of clover.
.
A Mayfly falls prey to a jumping spider. Normally slow moving jumping spiders are capable of very agile jumps, when hunting, in response to sudden threats, or to navigate obstacles. They all have four pairs of eyes, with the pair positioned closer together being larger.
Another view, (Donna).
A small moth on Canada Thistle.
If it’s real lucky this Orange Dog caterpillar may become a Giant Swallowtail.
.
A field of fleabane.
.
A rarely seen Orange Bluet, (Donna).
Female Twelve-spotted Skimmer, (Donna).
.
Hairy Wild Petunia.
.
It’s hard to believe what’s out there in that small incredible world that goes largely unnoticed by most as we pursue our daily lives. In the hierarchy of human affection warm cuddly animals seem to be at the top with insects being at the other end of the spectrum and usually not considered a welcome intrusion. But as with most things the more you know and understand the more you grow to love.
.
A casual glance will not do. To discover wonder and beauty one must look closely with intention.
.
Thanks for stopping by.
A First Sighting
Posted on June 27, 2018
Each year it’s a happy time when we again realize that while increased leaf cover and more secretive nesting behavior may make birds harder to observe other beautiful and fascinating things have taken their place. The other things that enchant, as we explore area parks, are the butterflies and dragonflies.
These creatures are a lot like small birds in the sense that you must get close up and personal in order to really appreciate them. At a distance they look like just another LBFI. For starters an essential tool is a pair of close focus binoculars, minimum focus distance of 6 – 7 ft. If you are like me that may soon give way to the desire to photograph them either as an aid to identification or for the record. That’s when you really start to notice how fascinating and beautiful they are. The next thing you may notice is their behavior like the pond surface tapping of a female dragonfly depositing eggs or the unique flight patterns of various butterflies. The more you observe and learn the more enchanting it all becomes.
Dragonfly heaven, Prairie Oaks Metro Park.
.
That’s not to say that we’ve given up on the birds. During recent insect outing I was hoping for a good shot of an Indigo Bunting but the one seen was just a little too far away.
Again too far away for a good picture but it is an Indigo Bunting.
.
A few other birds were a little closer.
A Brown Thrasher plays hide and seek in the leaf cover.
Certainly not trying to hide, this singing Protonotary Warbler was amazing hard to find but once spotted hard to ignore. It’s cavity nest wasn’t far from this perch.
.
Gradually as we work our way through June the bulk of nature’s activity increasingly revolves around the insects. A major menu item for many of the now stealthier birds, it’s impossible to ignore them while exploring areas such as Darby Bend Lakes in Prairie Oaks Metro Park. On a recent outing dragonflies and damselflies seemed to be everywhere and was made all the more exciting when a dragonfly that my wife spotted turned out to be the first recorded sighting in central Ohio!
Double-striped Bluet, (Donna).
Smaller than a Halloween Pennant a beautiful Calico Pennant poses for the camera.
Damselflies often are seen flying among the leaves of low lying bushes making them easy prey for the orb weaver spider.
Female Blue-ringed Dancer
Damselflies can be friendly.
Powdered Dancer
Blue-fronted Dancer.
Male Ebony Jewelwing, (Donna).
Halloween Pennant
Mating Halloween Pennants.
Female Widow Skimmer
A male Widow Skimmer dining on what appears to be a damselfly.
Male Eastern Pondhawk
One of the larger, but very common, dragonflies this female Eastern Pondhawk dines on a small insect, (Donna).
Fawn Darner
The Swift Setwing is one of the larger dragonflies and this sighting was the first recorded in central Ohio. Over the past few years it has slowly been working it’s way north perhaps due to such factors as global warming, (Donna)
.
Butterfly Weed
.
And as if the dragonflies weren’t enough during the past few weeks we’ve been treated to sightings of an amazing variety of other insects. So much so, that at times it was a bit overwhelming!
The medium size Eastern Comma Butterfly.
Eastern Comma another view, (Donna).
The medium size Great Spangled Fritillary, (Donna).
Another view of the Great Spangled Fritillary.
Virginia Ctenucha Moth
Red Admiral.
On a warm day the medium size Hackberry Emperor often lands on exposed skin to take advantage of the goodies in ones perspiration.
The beautiful marking on the underside of the Hackberry Emperor’s wings.
Monarch Butterfly.
A Monarch Butterfly shows the underside of it’s wings.
As far as we can remember this is the first time we’ve seen a Delaware Skipper, (Donna).
A very rare view of the top side of the very small female Eastern-tailed Blue Butterflies wings, (Donna).
A very common medium sized Orange Sulfur Butterfly.
.
Sometimes it’s hard to believe your eyes, such was the case a number of years ago when we saw our first hummingbird moth. We continue to be amazed.
Snowberry Clearwing Moth, Donna
Another view, (Donna).
.
Pearl Crescent, a common, beautiful, but smaller butterfly, (Donna).
Duskywing, a fast flying smaller butterfly.
The Silver Spotted Skipper butterfly is one of the larger skippers that we’ve observed to have an rather fearless attitude toward other flying insects. (Donna).
A Hoverfly pollenates on a Black-eyed Susan.
A very small long legged fly taxes the closeup capability of a Tamron 18-400 mm zoom.
Recently not far from our house we were thrilled to see Michigan Lilies in bloom
.
It’s always hard to know when to stop as there are always more pictures that could be part of the post based on their merit. However, realizing that the photographer is usually more excited about pictures taken than those looking at them I’ve decided to show some compassion and stop here. At the very least I hope this post inspire nature lovers to get out and take a closer look and find that which enchants.
.
Thanks for stopping by.
.
Hey wait, what about me!
.
A Quiet Walk In The Park
Posted on June 16, 2018
It was a quiet morning at Griggs Reservoir Park with little wind and an overcast sky that threatened rain making it almost too dark for pictures. The kind of day one pretty much has the whole park to themself. My pessimism about what would be seen, much less photographed, was reflected in my selection of cameras. I contented myself just with a Panasonic FZ200 superzoom accompanied by a pair of binos, while my wife expressed her optimism by taking a “bird camera”.
Rain and the resultant higher water levels meant that in many areas Water Willow graced the reservoir shoreline.
.
With the absence of traffic both in the park and on the reservoir, normally wary and prone to flight Great Blue Herons were content to stay on shoreline perches as we walked by. Other birds also seemed less prone to flight as we got close.
An immature Male Hooded Merganser is spotted with a group of Mallard Ducks, (Donna).
By a rain puddle a Barn Swallow strikes a contemplative pose, (Donna).
A Robin with a mouthful of earthworm and mulberry, (Donna).
.
Even with the dullness of the morning the unmistakable fire orange of a noisy Baltimore Oriole caught our eye as it streaked by on it way to a nearby tree. Taking a closer look through dense leaf cover revealed an almost completely hidden nest. Suspended by next winter’s bare branches, what remained would be easy to spot.
Male Baltimore Oriole
Take 2.
Take 3.
‘
My wife looked ever closer in an effort to see a “new to her” insect or spider. Life that most of us walk right by.
White-marked Tussock Moth caterpillar, (Donna).
Katydid, (Donna).
Female Amber Wing Dragonfly
Through the leaves a lone Painted Turtle is spotted. Not a good day to sun oneself on a log.
A very small and young Gray Tree Frog tries to remain unnoticed, (Donna).
.
Seemingly unabated, wildflowers continue their march through the year. Those that greeted us just a few weeks ago are gone but new ones have taken their place. On a sunny day they speak in a bright and joyful voice so it seems counterintuitive that the best time to photograph them is usually on overcast days. No blown out highlights, deep shadow values, and more saturated colors.
Horse Nettle is a good plant just to look at but not to touch.
Canada Thistle is a pesky weed for Ohio farmers.
As if playing “King of The Mountain” the vine and flower of the Morning Glory take advantage of an accommodating Moth Mullein.
Not the most common of our native wildflower standing forlorn at waters edge is what remained of a fairly large display of Butterfly Weed, someone had picked the rest.
Daisy Fleabane.
Thimbleweed.
Tall Meadow-rue.
White Moth Mullein.
Canada Anemone.
Reservoir landscape.
.
It never did rain and as our longer than expected time in the park came to a close so did the time for taking a “closer look” and for reflection. As is often the case when in nature we left much richer than when we came.
.
Thanks for stopping by.
****
Perhaps I should stick with photography!
Central Ohio Nature 