Monday, July 29, 2013

Insect Shots

Summer is the time that bees, wasps, flies and hornets are around, occasionally causing problems by taking up residence too close for comfort, but they play an incredibly important role in the world around us.  We enjoy the flowers all summer but take for granted the thousands of insects that provide the pollinating.  I've been trying to get a few close-up pictures, (with considerable frustration!), but these few are relatively clear - now all I have to do is learn to identify them!

I'm pretty sure on this one - it's a yellowjacket, here visiting the bloom of a gooseneck loosetrife in our garden.

And this one is a fly of some type - perhaps a blow fly, or a tachinid fly.  I have a long way to go to think of identifying flies correctly!

But I think I'm sure of this one - a bumblebee, here visiting a very tall purple loosestrife in a garden we were visiting last week.

When I photographed hosta blooms and posted them last week, I wondered what insect would provide the pollination for these.  Then a couple of days ago I watched a bumblebee crawl up into the hosta blossoms until it nearly disappeared.  It did this repeatedly, flying from blossom to blossom and almost disappearing each time.  Here it's emerging from a flower and about to fly onward.

Visit Macro Monday 2, to see other close-ups of various things:

6 comments:

  1. I love watching the bumble bees disappear right into the tubular flowers. Nice photos.

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  2. You got some great close ups here!! Not a fan of the yellow jacket - one stung me last week.

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  3. I can never get insects to stay still long enough for me. Great shots!

    Red Macro Miracle Flower

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  4. My camera has to be so close, I have a lot of trouble getting insects. Great shots! The fly is creepy in all its hairy awesomeness.

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  5. WOW!!! Such great close-ups!
    I use my "macro" setting to try and capture these wee fliers...
    Actually got a moth hummingbird last summer...they are so cute!!

    Enjoy your evening...
    Cheers!
    Linda :o)

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  6. Thank you all for visiting. I think the biggest part of my success with these was just dumb luck!

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