Out of Reach

Insect macrophotography is fascinating and educational, and extremely rewarding at times, but it can also be terribly frustrating. After all, there are days when I take 300-600 pictures, and of those hundreds of pictures, there's only a couple that are really good. A lot of them are okay. A huge majority are awful, and a lot of potentially great pictures never get taken at all, because the bug flies away at the last second, while my finger is pressing down on the shutter button. Or before I get it in focus. Anyway, it can be maddening.

And then there's today's Backyard Bug of the Day:

 I don't even know why I was looking so high up this tree trunk, but about 8 or 9 feet up I saw this bug scurrying around, and it came to rest in a groove of the bark. I can't tell what it is. At first it looked like a winter firefly, which would be a normal thing to find there, but as it was moving, and I got looks at it from different angles, it didn't look like that. It didn't look like a moth either.

What's that you say? You can't even see it?

 There it is. (In case you haven't noticed, I recently discovered that I can make circles on things in pictures). So, obviously I wanted a better picture, but I am only 5' 4 1/4" tall. I can generally take okay picture of things about six feet up, but 8 or 9 feet is too much. So I tried (and tried and tried) to get a picture by putting the camera on timer and lifting the camera up on the monopod, but as you might guess, getting things in focus that way is hard. Actually, getting them in the picture at all that way is hard - I am not sure the bug is even in any of the shots I got, and they are so blurry I can't tell anyway. It is also hard to hold the camera steady like that, but it doesn't really matter if your subject isn't in focus anyway. Or in the shot at all.

So...

 Here's the above picture zoomed in. Even looking at this I have no idea what it is, but it's not a winter firefly or a moth.

It was a nice day today, and I expected to see more than just winter crane flies, and I did, but not much:

 I saw some ants working on their formicary. For some reason that surprised me - I have been seeing ants on occasion, but I was surprised to see them working, in this case bringing bits of dirt up out of the hole. I don't know why that surprised me - obviously, the work needs to be done, and the ground is not frozen - in fact, it is warmer underground than above ground this time of year. So the ants would be active, and if they are active, it makes sense for them to be working on the place.

 It was even warm enough for a candy striped leaf hopper. To think that four years ago I had no idea these even existed, and now I know they are all around me. And it's not like I never spent any time outside before then, I spent a LOT of time outside. I just wasn't looking at the tiny things around me.

 Today was definitely the day for things out of my reach. There's a moth flying around up there... I found out that those moths I have been seeing on the front porch (and flying around the backyard) are Winter Moths. And they are an invasive species, and can totally defoliate - and kill - trees. That is, the caterpillars do. During the time of year when there are leaves. So I am kind of bummed about this. I hate to think of bugs being bad.

 Here's a couple of gnats propagating the species. It seems optimistic at this time of year, but I know nothing about their life cycle. For all I know, any eggs laid today will be grandparents by this time next week, and the days for the next week are looking pretty promising.

Here's a little action sequence for you:

 A gross action sequence. See that white blur on the bug's back?

 Okay, see it now? Guess what that is?

 I watched in amazement as this bug did what it was doing. I expected it to shoot that thing out the back, but it curled its body up and flung it over its head!

That's it - the white thing to the right of the bug. I am sure you are wondering why I photographed this process, and the answer is, how could I not? The better question is, how could I be such a dope and incompetent photographer that I didn't get the shot as it flung it? I am ashamed of myself.

Arachnid Appreciation:
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I may be 90% not afraid of spiders, but even I know that the spider living among the shoes in the hall closet has to go. It looks terrible, linty and kind of dehydrated, but it was feisty. It also wouldn't post nicely for pictures. Anyway, it no longer lives among shoes, so that has to be an improvement in its quality of life, even if it is winter(ish) now.