Hot Sheets Habitat

Posted on 2021-11-20 by admin

My garden is registered as both a National Wildlife Federation Backyard Wildlife Habitat and Xerces Society Pollinator Habitat. The insects have certainly gotten the message. During 2021, I’ve been able to document 14 different species of insects mating in my garden.

Acanthoscelidius acephalus, minute seed weevil
Epitrix fuscula
Harmonia axyridis, multi-colored lady beetle (introduced)
Eumerus
Orthonevra nitida, wavy mucksucker
Syritta pipiens, compost fly (introduced)
Toxomerus geminatus, Eastern calligrapher fly
Toxomerus marginatus, margined calligrapher fly
Xenox tigrinus, tiger bee fly
Jalysus, stilt bug
Lygaeus kalmii ssp. angustomarginatus, Eastern small milkweed bug
Hylaeus modestus, modest masked bee
Xylocopa virginica, large Eastern carpenter bee
Danaus plexxipus, monarch butterfly

Coleoptera, beetles

Acanthoscelidius acephalus, minute seed weevil

Epitrix fuscula

Harmonia axyridis, multi-colored lady beetle

Diptera, flies

Eumerus

Orthonevra nitida, wavy mucksucker

Syritta pipiens

Toxomerus geminatus, Eastern calligrapher fly

Toxomerus marginatus, margined calligrapher fly

Xenox tigrinus, tiger bee fly

Hemiptera, bugs

Jaylsus, stilt bug

Lygaeus kalmii ssp. angustomarginatus, Eastern small milkweed bug

Hymenoptera, Epifamily Anthophila, bees

Hylaeus modestus, modest masked bee

Xylocopa virginica, large Eastern carpenter bee

Lepidoptera, butterflies

Danaus plexippus, monarch butterfly

My garden is also registered as a butterfly and monarch habitat, and monarch waystation. It proved its worth this year. I observed multiple couplings, in addition to the usual egg-laying.

A Weekend in the Garden

Posted on 2007-10-09 by admin

A fallen leaf from the cherry tree in the backyard

Some macro shots of what’s happening in the garden now. Most of the shots are from the backyard, some from the sideyard, along the driveway.

I was really surprised to have this Cicada fly right past me and land on the fence long enough for me to get a good shot of it. I’ve never see a live one so close up. I usually see them dead on the sidewalk, often missing their abdomen from predation. In that state, the markings on the top of the thorax (?) are dull dark brown and black. I think this is Tibicen canicularis, the dog-day cicada.

I’ve been watching the aphids on these milkweed stems for several weeks. This photo doesn’t capture the intense orange-yellow color of these bugs; they look more yellow in the photo than they actually are. I wonder if their color is caused by feeding on milkweed, much like the warning red-orange colors of Monarchs?

Berries of Pokeweed, Phytolacca americana

Berries of Winterberry, Ilex verticillata

Sweet Autumn Clematis

Sunflower

First Macro Shots

Posted on 2007-06-19 by admin

Alstroemeria

My new macro lens arrived today. I would say that I was like a kid on Christmas, except that I am notorious among friends and family for carefully unwrapping any gift I receive so as to not tear the paper so I can save it.

The very, very first shot I took was of my router. Not that interesting. I deleted it. The Alstroemeria is the second macro shot I took. One of our next-door neighbors was coming home, and she had a bouquet in her arms. The other shots are from my backyard.

Itea “Little Henry”

Ilex verticillata, Winterberry (female)

Nepeta calamintha, Catmint “Walker’s Low”

Note the bonus ant in the above photo!

Hydrangea flower

This lens will take some getting used to before I can select and frame my subjects effectively. It’s a long lens, 105mm (digital, logner equivalent 35mm), so the depth-of-field is compressed. The advantage is that the combination of long focal length and closest focusing distance of 1 foot can provide 1:1 reproduction ratios: life-size images captured in the camera, which are much larger than life when enlarged. For example, here’s a 1:1 photo of text from the second paragraph of this post:

Besides shallow depth-of-field, the other disadvantage of a long focal length is increased sensitivity to camera shake. This macro lens also has built-in image stabilization, which counteracts shake by a factor of 2 or more.

I’m really interested in trying out this new lens for insect photography. The lens can focus out to infinity, so I can increase the depth-of-field by shooting from a greater distance. Here’s an example of that in the last shot I took today: leaves from the mystery Ligularia I bought at the Chelsea Garden Center two Saturdays ago.

Ligularia leaves

These leaves are exceptionally ruffled. Although much of each leaf is still not in focus, the overall image accurately conveys the texture and depth of the leaves. This is my favorite of the dozen or so shots I took today with my new toy. I’m looking forward to having more play time with it.

Flatbush Gardener

Urban Habitat Gardening with Native Plants

Tag Archives: Macro