Nice intro to Spring. The 'bugs' add another dimension to the fine flowers, similar to Robins on the greening back yard, harbingers of renewal. Re. comments- #3 has a great spider, a foraging Lynx spider; #4 is an unknown (by me) fly, a spot of Mother Nature on a Human construct; #1 has reminders that no one stands alone but is part of the greatest interrelationship of of living things, the food chain. The last are plain delightful!
Really nice. Wonder whether the triangle under the bent knee should be gray rather than 'skin', and both the kneecaps 'skin' rather than light gray 'foam' -- picky picky I know, just noticed those areas and a few more minor ones.
A Stonefly naiad, I think, not a Dobsonfly. The latter would have powerful jaws forming about 1/3 of the head (not the giant tongs of an adult male, but short and powerful biters). I think the separate sections of the thorax indicate this also. A Dobsonfly Hellgrammite would be much heavier, bigger, compact, with nearly equal but shorter legs. Stonefly mature larvae crawl out of the water and shed their skin, ready to fly away; Hellgrammites crawl out and dig a hidden place under a rock, etc. and become a pupa that has to reorganize to become an adult
Agree with the ‘highlight hypothesis’; BUT, what’s the tiny dangle behind and to the right? It’s at the bottom of the dark thin vertical triangle next to the highlight on the leaf behind, ENE in the red circle, very tiny.
bnsf wrote:
The year was 2000 had a log beard which was snow white and was in the middle of the chest. Children would often call me Santa Claus. When I was asked to play Santa at our Holiday Party I am glad l did not turn it down.
I had several similar experiences. One I remember was in a restaurant, a little girl (5-ish) said "It's Santa". I stopped, kneeled down and chatted with her for a few seconds, and said I was on vacation, but not to worry, I'd be back to the N Pole in plenty of time for Christmas. They left, and the father came back inside and shook my hand. Good for the heart!
Full facial since 1968 after move to CA but I do keep it neatly trimmed now in SC for last two. Head hair changed from very short to quite long in grad school, added headband for years as museum curator, then back to just not quite so long, and now relatively short. Cut my own for most of that time, but gotten lazy lately and get the head cut every 6 weeks with partial selfies between, still always do my own quickie beard trim every couple of days. Just got tired of shaving every day. No fad, just comfortable.
Hope it makes it through. Has a problem with its head, that crusty surface is not normal monarchism. Be interesting to see if it pupates, then ecloses. Nice set.
Definitely a moth, but I don't know more for ID. The 'nose' is actually the maxillary palpi, a pair of jointed appendages associated with feeding, probably bearing 'smell' sensory setae, though not a 'protrusion' of the 'face'.
These are great photos! I could use them as key points in an entire lecture on arthropods. FYI, 'baby' Damselflies are fully aquatic and don't yet have wings - that's a Midge adult (family Chironomidae, a type of fly), probably a male based on the feathery antennae, photo #5. It's not a 'baby' - adult insects no longer 'grow' (shed skin) other than sometimes they get fatter (like some of us). I can't see any 'sac' on any spider shot; in #4 the bugwrap is a (probably) past dinner, not attached to the spider, or perhaps newer being carried closer to home? That is a common action of Orb Weavers (family Araneidae). On #1 and #4 you can easily see the 'pucker' of many web spigots at the tip of the abdomen that can produce several kinds of web - strong (guy-wires), springy (shock absorbers), sticky (capture nets) or not (travel paths and scaffolding) etc. 'He' is a she (you can tell by the digitate pedipalps), ready to lay a silk-covered pouch of eggs (for orb weavers, usually only one per lifetime) and then die. The 'he' (with 'boxing-glove' pedipalps) is long gone. Other kinds of spiders, for example Cobweb Spiders, family Theridiidae, often produce several by each female. I had a Black Widow make 14, estimated at about 50+ eggs each, from a single mating (that I knew happened right after capture) over 15 months, all of them hatching!
So, You did good!
There’s no reflection of the bridge towers right or left (they are on the third photo) or the red-brown buildings to the right. It’s possible the foreground of the shore extends out enough to block the reflection of the lower floors, but still, the foremost row of light objects at the right shoreline are close and should reflect but don’t. Ditto the scaffolding to the left. The black shape with a small white building in front (near center) should maybe show more clearly but the white building should show as it is further in front. The green plant edge of the shore does not reflect. The big black and the grey bldgs to the right do not reflect and they should even if partly cut-off at the base (ditto 3rd photo). There is a narrow horizontal dark band across the reflection it the approximately 5th floor level and the floor height is even greater than the others.
And particularly, the ‘columns’ of the building and the reflection do not line up - check the third from the right (narrowest one) as most obvious, shifted to the right in the reflection; perspective says they should be in a straight line. Progressively from the left, all are shifted to the right – impossible!
This is either a composite or pp modified. (I think.)
Depending on weather and species, many of these moths maintain a higher-than-ambient temperature allowing for a rapid escape if threatened; like Bumble bees and some Conenose katydids, they do this by constant wing vibration generating heat. I wouldn't count on a specific ID from a photo because there are so many similar species. The experts may dissect out the genitalia to examine and ID cryptic species. There are a LOT of species of 'bugs', and many are visually identical.
Just an opposite thought - many bugs do the opposite! When they find an abundant food source they shut down, maximizing energy conservation, just keeping the eating mechanism working. Isn't Mom Nature amazing? Whatever works.
Curmudgeon wrote:
Posted the same picture twice and misidentified a Hover Fly (I know better).
Well, I tell you, I'd rather find 2 of yours than than 0!!! I figured it was an early PP, but I couldn't see any differences. And the fly-bee matters very little. I just like to tout my bugly erudition once in a while, which also matters very little! Those were just fine photos.