a little wild   (a small slice of wildlife)

Frost on our front lawn. I lay down and caught it backlit by the morning sun.

I think that if I’d seen it a little earlier in the morning, it would have looked better.

First, another visitor to the house. I think it’s Steatoda borealis, rather than Steatoda grossa, but am not certain.

Aphid:

Lygus lineolaris:

Made a collection of some of the insect photos I took in 2020 over here: https://alittlewild.blog/best-insect-photos/2020-2/

Autumn, a deluge of drops of color.

A few different views of this brook.

New Ipswich; Eliza Adams Gorge walk; some ponds and reservoirs on Rt 101; Pratt Pond.

For some reason, my first visit to the trails of Moose Hill Farms, run by The Trustees of the Reservations. Battery ran out of juice, so just a few photos, which is just as well, enjoyed the walk very much!

Two parts: first, in the Canoe River area in Foxboro, from Willow St. along the electricity lines. Next, Borderland State Park at the Northwest Trail.

Not a great day for too many insects. At the Canoe River area, the breeze was too much to get many photographs in focus; at Borderland, there were fewer insects than I’ve seen for a while. Maybe the season is dwindling.

As recompense, we’re getting more colors and better light. The early and late autumn — before and after peak colors — are underestimated for their beauty.

These photos (a bee, Sphecodes, I’m told) could have been so much better! I realized after I took them that my camera was still at f/2.8. Trying to capture a fidgety bee at f/2.8 is like drinking your tea with chopsticks.

They’re kleptoparasites: they can feed themselves, but get other bees (including other Halictids) to feed their babies.

My guess is that we caught her in the act of invading another bee’s burrow to lay her eggs! Very cool.

Nice to catch it taking off:

A jagged ambush bug, Phymata cf pennsylvanica

I can never say no to Halictidae photographs:

An ant alate. “Crematogaster cerasi or less likely C. lineolata”.

Can you spot the jumping spider?

I’m using new apparatus for macro photographs. This grasshopper allowed me to make full use of the zoom. Melanoplus punctulatus.

And this is with the lens fully zoomed in, no crop!

Lichen:

Figitidae:

I think it’s a Copper Underwing, Amphipyra pyramadoides, but my moth intelligence is very low.