From my Backyard
Nov 11, 2016 14:49:03 #
Here are a few more pictures. These were acquired from my back yard, which i would frequently visit with camera if I was expected to mow the lawn or exercise the dog.
1. I was being eaten alive by mosquitoes, and soon noticed this one suspiciously loaded with a nice meal of what I could only presume to be my blood. This required the full stack of extension tubes on my 50mm lens. I do not know the species, but maybe the genus Aedes.
2. Everyone should have at least one butterfly bush. I have only one, so far, but it was frequently visited. Monarchs (Danaus plexippus) were regulars.
3. Our neighbor had a big hornets nest attached to their house. So there were quite a few bald faced hornets (Dolichovespula maculata) visiting our trumpet vines.
4. I would love to learn how to take better pictures of insects in flight. My trick is to get the fastest shutter speed that I can get in continuous shooting mode under current conditions of light, focus somewhere in the general vicinity of where I think they will go next, and just shoot and pray as they fly to the next flower. Some come out ok by dumb luck. Here is one of our Eastern carpenter bees (Xylocopa virginica).
5. Back to the butterfly bush. This clear winged sphinx moth (Hemaris definis) was pretty cooperative, so I was able to take a number of decent pictures.
1. I was being eaten alive by mosquitoes, and soon noticed this one suspiciously loaded with a nice meal of what I could only presume to be my blood. This required the full stack of extension tubes on my 50mm lens. I do not know the species, but maybe the genus Aedes.
2. Everyone should have at least one butterfly bush. I have only one, so far, but it was frequently visited. Monarchs (Danaus plexippus) were regulars.
3. Our neighbor had a big hornets nest attached to their house. So there were quite a few bald faced hornets (Dolichovespula maculata) visiting our trumpet vines.
4. I would love to learn how to take better pictures of insects in flight. My trick is to get the fastest shutter speed that I can get in continuous shooting mode under current conditions of light, focus somewhere in the general vicinity of where I think they will go next, and just shoot and pray as they fly to the next flower. Some come out ok by dumb luck. Here is one of our Eastern carpenter bees (Xylocopa virginica).
5. Back to the butterfly bush. This clear winged sphinx moth (Hemaris definis) was pretty cooperative, so I was able to take a number of decent pictures.
Nov 11, 2016 16:40:23 #
1. nice sacrifice for the cause..........hope your not in Zika country.
2. I concur, they are popular, we have several.
3.
4. I think the speedlight will up your keeper rate, and lots and lots of attempts Black and shiny are difficult under the best circumstances.
5. nice grab, they are on my wish list. I have never laid eyes on one yet.
2. I concur, they are popular, we have several.
3.
4. I think the speedlight will up your keeper rate, and lots and lots of attempts Black and shiny are difficult under the best circumstances.
5. nice grab, they are on my wish list. I have never laid eyes on one yet.
Nov 11, 2016 17:21:41 #
Nov 11, 2016 18:46:44 #
Nov 12, 2016 04:27:52 #
I like the 4th. in that you can see the wing movement and the mosquito clearly shows your generosity in blood donation.
Nov 12, 2016 04:56:45 #
Nov 12, 2016 10:44:00 #
Mark you have a good eye for compositional elements and colour harmonies...
As for the Monarch Butterfly... I've always been enchanted by their annual southward autumn migration through my locale...
So amazing to behold a sky filled with these beautiful creatures... Alas they to will soon likely become extinct... A ten-fold drop in the population of the eastern monarch butterfly population over the last decade, prompted a 2016 study which predicted a likely probability that this population will go extinct within the next 20 years...
The aforementioned is likely thanks to the massive marketing efforts of Monsanto and it's Roundup Ready crops are now becoming widespread (read ubiquitous here) in the US Midwest. Roundup Ready crops are engineered to be herbicide-resistant so that farmers can (and now are) apply massive amounts of weed killers i.e. chemical pesticides also manufactured by Monsanto without damaging their crops. This in turn has lead to a shocking decline of Milkweed the primary source of the Eastern Monarch's existence...
Rachel Carson got it right with "Silent Spring" How many more species will we lose to chemical pesticides?
Biodiversity is but a dream within a dream now... Industrial Farming has little use for it... After all, is a business entity not charged with the responsibility for maximizing profits and dividend yields for it's investors?
Enjoy that cheap processed food on your table... Think not of your children's, children's children... What they never see they won't miss will they... Let's hear it again for that wonderful organization of Monsanto... which btw in which Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation owns more than $23 million worth, or 500,000 Monsanto shares. Yes Bill Gates is part of the problem... go figure...
Thank you so much for sharing Mark but the Monarch brought a tear to my eye...
Looking forward to more of your bio-diverse imagery...
As for the Monarch Butterfly... I've always been enchanted by their annual southward autumn migration through my locale...
So amazing to behold a sky filled with these beautiful creatures... Alas they to will soon likely become extinct... A ten-fold drop in the population of the eastern monarch butterfly population over the last decade, prompted a 2016 study which predicted a likely probability that this population will go extinct within the next 20 years...
The aforementioned is likely thanks to the massive marketing efforts of Monsanto and it's Roundup Ready crops are now becoming widespread (read ubiquitous here) in the US Midwest. Roundup Ready crops are engineered to be herbicide-resistant so that farmers can (and now are) apply massive amounts of weed killers i.e. chemical pesticides also manufactured by Monsanto without damaging their crops. This in turn has lead to a shocking decline of Milkweed the primary source of the Eastern Monarch's existence...
Rachel Carson got it right with "Silent Spring" How many more species will we lose to chemical pesticides?
Biodiversity is but a dream within a dream now... Industrial Farming has little use for it... After all, is a business entity not charged with the responsibility for maximizing profits and dividend yields for it's investors?
Enjoy that cheap processed food on your table... Think not of your children's, children's children... What they never see they won't miss will they... Let's hear it again for that wonderful organization of Monsanto... which btw in which Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation owns more than $23 million worth, or 500,000 Monsanto shares. Yes Bill Gates is part of the problem... go figure...
Thank you so much for sharing Mark but the Monarch brought a tear to my eye...
Looking forward to more of your bio-diverse imagery...
Nov 12, 2016 12:41:10 #
Thomas902 wrote:
Thank you. It is a bit beyond the range of discussion in a photography web site, but I for one do not mind. Mark you have a good eye for compositional elements and colour harmonies...
We can all relate tales of how we used to see monarchs, several at a time, in any direction that we looked. They are now much scarcer. I still see plenty but their numbers are a faint echo of what they used to be like.
It is becoming generally known that our use of pesticides has broadly thinned the numbers and diversity of our native species, to say nothing of their probable contribution in harming the domestic population of honeybees. Among the items that are routinely used, I consider the use of neonicotinoid insecticides in seeds to be the most troublesome. You can look up what that stuff does if you wish.
But on top of the harm, it has long been clear that their heavy use has not returned all the promised benefits. Getting back to the monarch and other insects threatened by the use of Round-up, for example, this herbicide is of course used in conjunction with Round-up resistant GM crops. The promise that this combination would increase crop yields has just not panned out, as is widely reported (see here for example: http://www.ewg.org/agmag/2015/03/claims-gmo-yield-increases-don-t-hold ). So a main factor causing decline in monarchs has not resulted in a consistent benefit in terms of yield or cost of food.
Nov 12, 2016 13:40:25 #
I admire OP's photography, and I completely concur with the side-bar discussion. I have raised Monarchs for release, and participate with nation-wide, citizen-based organizations, formed to restore Monarch population.
Nov 13, 2016 22:47:08 #
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