Red Milkweed Beetle

Red Milkweed Beetle

As you might guess from their name, these orange beetles hang out on the milkweed plant.  They don't run or fly away if you kept a respectful distance.

Red Milkweed Beetle

The most interesting discovery about them that I have made is the juxtaposition of the antennae and eyes.  The antenna bisects the eye.  Once I learned that, I was less confused while shooting them since I am always looking at the eye while focusing.  When shooting from above I can see only the upper eye (see image at top).  I focus on it only if that is all that is visible.  Having a question in my mind about the location of the eye causes me to loose focus while shooting, no pun intended.  That question mark yields less sharp images and I think that I have improved since I learned that fact.

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Other Bees

Bumble Bee

I look for hair on the abdomen to see if it is a bumblebee.  

This bee is about the size of a honey bee. 

Carpenter Bee

The abdomen of this bee is hairless as you can see from the next shot.

Carpenter Bee

These bees tend to be larger than the honey bee.

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Spring Peeper

Spring Peeper

I try to remind myself that this frog is tiny, I think two could sit on my thumb if they sat closely.

Spring Peeper

This frog reminds me of sitting in the front yard of my kids grandpa in the evenings and listening to them down at the pond.  This was in the spring, of course.  They are easy to identify because of the "X" on their back.

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Butterfly and Caterpillar

 

Does this butterfly go with the caterpillar below?

Viceroy Butterfly

The answer is, "no".

Monarch Caterpillar

As you might imagine, the Viceroy and Monarch Butterflies are a little tricky to distinguish unless you get a good look at them.

I have no images of the caterpillar of the Viceroy.

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Skipper Butterflies

Silver-spotted Skipper on Blazing Star

I have a twofold reason for displaying the insect.  One is to show the insect and the other is to show a flower on which it feeds.

Silver-spotted Skipper on Blazing Star

It is good to see this little butterfly back for this year.  The top view of the wings does not show the silver spot.

Delaware Skipper

I have been noticing that several little skippers fly around the edge of the pond and vernal pool.  They are quite active and hard to capture.  This little one perched for me.  Its wings are back-lit and look almost translucent.  The flash from the camera completes the lighting.  It looks like the rear wing is displaying a shadow on the underside of the fore-wing but that is coloration.  

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Gray Treefrog

Gray Treefrog

The blade of grass on which this little frog is sitting is about half the width of my thumb nail.  I just happened to glimpse it as I walked down the trail.  It changes color to correspond with its environment.

Gray Treefrog

I am becoming aware that there are a number of little frogs at Gorman of which this is one.  They are about the size of an insect.

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Horse-fly

Horse-fly

 My Granddaughter, Evie was telling me she saw one of these lately.

 

I learned about this insect as a child on the farm.  They bit our cows on the back.  We would kill them whenever possible.  I think they would deposit an egg when they bit.  Later, the bite spot would swell and eventually open to release a larva.  We would squeeze out the larva and step on it.

I don't kill either the flies or the larvae now.  They are very interesting.  I do keep watch so that they don't bite me.  I think they don't bite people but you can't be too careful.

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