Mosquito Blood Feast: While photographing flowers near a swamp area, I was the a hungry mosquito's chosen one... no repellent. My small Sony HX-50 in one hand and the mosquito enjoying...

dpullum Loc: Tampa Florida

While photographing flowers near a swamp area, I was the a hungry mosquito's chosen one... no repellent. My small Sony HX-50 in one hand and the mosquito enjoying a feast on the other, I took this photo. Long forgotten in my archives, AI software rejuvenated this much cropped photo to be presentable.

The Sony HX50 is a pocket Superzoom with a fly speck sensor, 1/2.3, amazing the closeup detail it will take. It is still my in-pocket walk around camera, even tho I have an expensive Panasonic TZ100 with a 1" sensor and my DSLR full bag.

"Mosquitoes have a taste for human blood, because our blood is "salty and sweet," according to newly published research."
https://www.foxnews.com/science/why-mosquitoes-feast-on-humans-blood
https://www.mosquitoalert.com/en/how-a-mosquito-sneaks-after-it-steal-your-blood/

BLOOD FEAST
BLOOD FEAST...

(Download)

nimbushopper Loc: Tampa, FL

Wow!

imagemeister Loc: mid east Florida

Well done - impressive ! .....thanks for sharing

kpmac Loc: Ragley, La

Nasty beggars. They have a niche but it sure doesn't make them likeable.

sippyjug104 Loc: Missouri

Dpullum, If you are curious and want to know more interesting facts about blood-sucking insects, I've attached a book in PDF format that you may like to have. It's attached in the "Attached file" "Download"

Enjoy, Sippy.

Attached file:
(Download)

dpullum Loc: Tampa Florida

imagemeister wrote:

Well done - impressive ! .....thanks for sharing

Sharing? My blood with the mosquito or the photo...

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Wow, Sippy, 300+ pages of read yourself to sleep info on blood sucking insects. I glanced at a bit and it is a definitive text. I will down load it and never be bored. Knowledge is an addictive commodity.

Most of the population just consider mosquitos an annoyance and know but not being concerned about the moving north of misquote diseases such as Dengue Fever as global warming turns Louisiana into a tropical swamp. "It will never happen to me" is a dangerous state of mind.

"Dengue, nicknamed the ‘bone-breaking disease’ for causing joint and muscle pain so severe that it feels as if the bones are breaking, is a virus that typically runs its course and resolves."

"The stripey ‘Asian tiger’ mosquito has now been spotted or become established in 30 European countries, including Spain, Italy and Croatia. It’s even been picked up in the UK, and some experts think warming temperatures will allow them to settle in England within a decade."
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/global-health/science-and-disease/dengue-infection-break-bone-fever-thailand-mosquitoes/

Retired CPO Loc: Travel full time in an RV

I hope you splattered her all over your hand before she got away! The blood feast that they require before they can lay viable eggs will result in hundreds or thousands of not so cute little baby monsters to carry on the tradition of delivering all kinds of vile diseases. I kill them with great joy, just because they itch so much, but the disease carrying aspect is an even more rewarding excuse.
BTW, the females drink blood for the protein to grow nice strong babies. The males don't. They eat nectar and are harmless except for the fact that they, obviously, do their part to help produce the next generation of little baby monsters!
I HATE them!!!

josquin1 Loc: Massachusetts

GROSS!

josquin1 Loc: Massachusetts

Mosquitoes are the most dangerous animal in the world to humans. They kill thousands of us.

sippyjug104 Loc: Missouri

Dpullum, Here's an interesting blood-sucking insect tib-bit of information. A tick is born as a nymph with SIX LEGS. It cannot grow to its next stage of life until it feeds on blood. When it dines on its first meal, it can molt to the next stage of life where it grows EIGHT LEGS. How weird is that?

Male ticks need only dine once to grow into an adult. Female ticks must dine a second time to be able to reproduce.

josquin1 Loc: Massachusetts

sippyjug104 wrote:

Dpullum, Here's an interesting blood-sucking insect tib-bit of information. A tick is born as a nymph with SIX LEGS. It cannot grow to its next stage of life until it feeds on blood. When it dines on its first meal, it can molt to the next stage of life where it grows EIGHT LEGS. How weird is that?

Male ticks need only dine once to grow into an adult. Female ticks must dine a second time to be able to reproduce.

You think God thought that one out?

dpullum Loc: Tampa Florida

"Male ticks need only dine once to grow into an adult. Female ticks must dine a second time to be able to reproduce." per Sippy

I was at a weekend outing with a group at a north Florida park. I lay down to take photos of interesting colorful lichen on the side of a rock. Yep, when I got home, remove the ticks at the belt line with fingernail polish. One of the bite gave a bulls eye indicting Lyme Disease. Went to my doctor and he said can't be there is no Lyme Disease in Florida only in the North East.. Dumped that DoDo... went to another and he treated me as if it was Lyme Disease... Test came back negative, but he said it looked like Lyme Disease and tests have false positive and false negative and better to be safe. Later I found out that "People are at risk for Lyme disease in Florida year-round."
https://www.jacksonville.com/story/news/local/2011/06/09/ask-unf-lyme-disease-florida-what-you-need-know/15900862007/

BBurns Loc: South Bay, California

When I was a kid in Florida, we would let a mosquito land and start to feed.
Then gently pinch the skin around them just enough so that they could not retract when they were done.
They would continue to gorge themselves until they were extremely bloated.
We would then release the pinch so they could leave.
No matter how hard they tried, their wings could not support the added load.
They would then descend at a rapid rate only to become a red spot on the floor!!

Being a kid was fun.

sippyjug104 Loc: Missouri

Dpullum, the most notorious blood-suckers are the IRS for a mosquito is happy to take just a drop and a tick to take just a few, however, the IRS will suck their victims dry.

For what it's worth, there are plans to hire 80,000 (yep, a real number) of additional IRS agents. It has also been announced that the IRS will be using AI to help them seek out those they suspect are skirting their full tax burden.

I know that there is repellent for the blood-sucking insects. I wonder if there is any repellent for the IRS.

dpullum Loc: Tampa Florida

sippyjug104 wrote:

...plans to hire 80,000 (yep, a real number) of additional IRS agents. It has also been announced that the IRS will be using AI to help them seek out those they suspect are skirting their full tax burden...

Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse, Syracuse University publish detailed information on IRS infestation up to 2004.
https://trac.syr.edu/tracirs/trends/v10/irsStaff.html

The agency’s workforce has been sharply reduced, and audit rates, especially for large corporations and high-income taxpayers, have plummeted. As a result, the tax gap — the difference between taxes owed and taxes paid — is large and growing. ... The IRS’ budget has been cut dramatically. Despite modest increases in the past few years, funding remains 19 percent below the 2010 level, adjusted for inflation.
https://www.cbpp.org/research/federal-tax/the-need-to-rebuild-the-depleted-irs

Hard to know reality in this world... I was married to a lady who was a highly intelligent "Internal Auditor" for a large company. When she did our complicated IRS tax she was "creative" to say it kindly.

We all hate to pay tax and fill out the forms. That is why people argue for the fixed percent tax. This will put a smile on your face watching the IRS Audit scene from Breaking Bad:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uwz1O-2d4CY