Tuesday, August 24, 2010

(Day 236) Found among the flowers

It was time to mow the lawn again, and I saw that the wildflowers behind the now-empty chicken coop (yes, we had to give the chickens away now that our chicken sitter is off to college) were doing very well. I'll have to post a photo or 2 of them soon. I decided to have a closer look there after the mowing was done, and I noticed a lot of activity among the flowers. Here are a few examples of what I found.

(60mm  f5.6  1/160 sec  ISO200)

not sure what this one was
(60mm  f5.6  1/250 sec  ISO200)

another view


(60mm  f5.6  1/250 sec  ISO200)

this hornet wasn't drinking the nectar; he was here on a more nefarious mission
(60mm  f8  1/250 sec  ISO200)

a busy bee checking out a thistle flower

20 comments:

becky said...

You had a chicken sitter?! We had chickens when I was growing up... but we never had a sitter! All your photos are nice, but I particularly love the YELLOW in the top two!

Rick said...

@becky - ha ha! Yep - we had a neighbour girl come over to make sure the chickens had food and water daily when we were away. The perimeter of the chicken run also wasn't secure enough to keep coyotes and fishers out so they were secured in the coop overnight.

Thanks Becky - we've got lots of that yellow here !

Biana said...

De DOF in deze photos is echt fantastisch! Ook de kleuren zijn geweldig mooi, Rick. En lol, chickensitter... Haha!

darlin said...

Wow, these shots are stunning Rick. I especially like the three with all the yellows in them, not the bug but the photos themselves. I'm rather fond of yellows.

I must say that you have a particular talent, not many people can take photos of bugs and turn them into a work of art, fantastic captures!

Unknown said...

The 2nd and 3rd close-ups are stunning - TACK SHARP as Scott Kelby would say . . . :-D

Greetz,

Joseph

Ruth's Photo Blog said...

Beautiful.I really like the bee on the Thistle.

Romantik Seelchen said...

viele Grüße von Jasmin, das gelb gleicht mir dem Gold, hell und sonnig, wunderschön...

Teté M. Jorge said...

Lovely...

Unknown said...

I love the bright yellow! And isn't it fortuitous that the yellow/black bugs looks so striking against that background. Truly great shots, Rick!

Rick said...

@Biana - dank je wel Biana.

Als we weg gingen, kwam er een buurmeisje die acht op de kippen geef - voedsel, water, enz. Maar die is nu op school in een andere stadt (onze kippensitter ! ;-)

Fijne donderdag!

Rick said...

@darlin - thank you Darlene *blush*. We're blessed with so many wildflowers - the bugs are just a bonus ;-)

Rick said...

@CarreraCaballo - thanks Joseph ! As one of my immigrant friends would say 'shack tarp' ;-) country of origin shall remain confidential :)

Rick said...

@Ruth's Photo Blog - thank you Ruth; I thought I only had 1 thistle plant but I found this one as well.

Rick said...

@jasmin - danke Jasmin ! Yes, the yellow wildflowers (goldenrod) are beautiful as gold and make a lovely background for all the insects that are fed by them.

Rick said...

@teca - thank you teca ! Beijos!

Rick said...

@Krista - ah, fortuitous indeed ! I knew that hornets and bees could sting, so I made sure I didn't 'crowd' them too much with the camera - I wasn't too sure what these 'bugs' could do, but they kept a large eyeball on me the whole time ! Fortunately I escaped with the shots, unscathed !

Carolyn Ford said...

Fabulous macro...I especially like the yellows, beautiful. The critter looks like it might be related to a wasp of some sort. I don't know critters much either...but, I've learned to give them their space!

Katherine said...

Sensational pictures Rick.. they're perfect close ups. It isn't any wonder there was a buzz of activity in these flowers, they absolutely stunning and they make these funny little bugs looks beautiful! Great work

Rick said...

@Carolyn Ford - thank you Carolyn! I'm with you on giving critters their space - I'm not particularly fond of bites and stings either !!

Rick said...

@Katherine - I was drawn to the flowers first, and then noticed the swarms of flying creatures. Glad they would stay still long enough for me to capture them, and also that none flew up into my face which was only inches away!

Thanks Katherine!