A white Christmas! It would be wrong to miss the chance for a walk in the woods right after a snowfall. I apologize if there are too many photos here; the fresh snow brings out so much beauty.
Winter insects are always a thrill. Here’s a winter stonefly, If you want to learn more about them: https://blogs.scientificamerican.com/guest-blog/winter-stoneflies-sure-are-supercool/.
One of the biggest attractions today was the sun shining on the droplets on the branches, setting them afire. However, photographing that posed a challenge: what was scintillating to the eye disappeared in the photos, as the droplets were too small and the highlights were cut, so the brilliance was lost, for the most part. This is a typical photo:
By accident, I found that one way to sometimes compensate for this was to take photos out of focus — in retrospect, I suspect everyone else already knew this, but it was fun to experiment with. Here’s pretty much scene as the previous photo, but out of focus:
I’ve often mentioned that I’m obsessed with photographing this particular view:
Here’s a boulder that clearly is not enjoying the snowstorm 😦
And here’s an occasion where the droplets in the sunlight did in fact display themselves well:
I don’t apologize for my time exposures of the stream, cliched or not! But it’s nice to find a new twist on this approach. Today, the sun was reflected on the bustling flow, so the exposures had a fresh look.
And finally, the sun was low enough that I could take backlit photos of this eccentric icicle, with the sun in the background:
A leaf suspended in a spider web:
A nice autumn fall day. There’s no way should anyone be indoors. I went on the Ridge trail at Moose Hill Mass Audubon in time for sunset.
It got late and as I was going back, the yellow autumn leaves were pretty much glowing in the dark.
There was a large flock of swallows gyrating. I tried to take some time exposures. Still working on it, but these are reasonably interesting.
One of our favorite walks. The boardwalk is now open, too.
The Handsome Trigs were everywhere! Seriously, though, that’s their official name. This one seems to be eating some prey? As katydids, I assumed that they would eat plants. Perhaps a larva? [Edit — I learned that most Orthoptera are in fact opportunistic eaters of other insects or carrion, so this is certainly food. And armed with this knowledge, I can never look at locust swarms in the same way ever again.]
My first geometrid moth caterpillar ever! These are known for their spectacular camouflage. I would never have realized that this wasn’t a twig, except that it mistook the wooden railing for the branch of a tree, and so stood out:
In case you’re still not convinced, here’s a closeup of the head:
A beautiful spreadwing damselfly. This photo was taken on a stretch of the King Phillip’s Cave path that I call Damsel Alley; it’s never without its damselflies.
A shock of color.
It was late in the day, so I took the opportunity to get some backlit photos of this flower:
Pelecinid wasps are always a thrill:
I like this color combination:
There’s nothing very extraordinary about this photo. I just like something about the balance of it.
I haven’t posted in a while, so I’m going to add a mishmash of miscellaneous photos to this. Playing with the new telephoto (remind me, please, to crop this one better).
Reverse photo of an ambush bug (Phymatidae) on our window:
This photo of the crane fly reminds me of Leonardo da Vinci’s Vitruvian Man drawing.
Wasp on our flowers:
Dolichopodidae (long-legged fly)
Borderland State Park:
Taking the new macro lens for a walk. A lot of flies and moths, and not that much by way of identification. A wonderful walk nevertheless!
This was suggested as more likely to be a cluster fly than a Sarcophagid. I’ll look into this in more detail; I’m not familiar with cluster flies.
The stiletto fly, Thereva frontalis, I think. What is it doing with its abdomen, ovipositing perhaps?
A long-legged fly (Dolichopodidae), gorgeous as always, and a closeup. Something like Medetera?
This Salticid is probably Naphrys pulex:
I believe these are march flies (Bibionidae), perhaps something like Penthetria sp. But I don’t know how to distinguish this from the dark-winged fungus gnat, Sciaridae (Epidapus or Sciara genus). Or, for that matter, Axymyiidae.
Perhaps a Prionyx searching for a grasshopper or a cricket to parasitize? On further thought (look at the orange legs!) something in Sphex, like S ichneumoneus looks better to me. In any case, it was found on a path in the woods, not necesssarily great grasshopper or cricket area.
Probably a tachinid fly. A suggestion give to me was this.
Best guess: Toxomerus geminatus.
In Corinnidae, this is Castianeira longipalpa (a male). This site helpfully adds that “Castianeira” means “endowed with a pre-eminent husband.” These are considered ant-mimic spiders, but it doesn’t seem that close a mimic to me.
My ignorance of Lepidoptera is profound. This one is close to Olethreutes fasciatana.
And this beauty is something close to Olethreutes astrolagana. First July sighting in Massachusetts that was recorded in bugguide.
Crane flies mating, and a closeup of the eyes. My best guess for the genus is Tipula, maybe paludosa?
Probably a sepsid fly:
Maybe Perithemis tenera (Eastern Amberwing).
After many years of interest in insect photography, I finally went ahead and bought a macro lens. I got about fifteen minutes today to go into the backyard and see how it worked. Initial impressions are very positive! Even though about half way through the session I realized I had my Raynox filter on, reducing the depth of focus.
“Valets do it, surfer babes do it,
Even summertime Syrphidae do it.”
From Tom Murray’s book, I would guess Toxomerus marginatus, based on the abdominal pattern. I don’t know if you’re allowed to guess species based on that, though.
An assassin bug nymph. Perhaps Zelus luridus?
Perhaps a katydid nymph (identified for me as genus Scudderia):
Here is a Platycryptus undatus on my house window.
Aglossa caprealis, the stored grain moth.
A groundhog in our backyard. My son felt they were cool, not pests!
a little wild 