Four Portraits Plus an Insect Circle

When the moth settled down on my keyboard space bar, it was picture taking time! One of several recent insect portraits, tho this has not been a really good year for bugs. I've offered a lot of bright flowers -- enough to keep a very proprietary hummer happy -- but I've only seen a couple of butterflies most of this summer. One, a white guy with a couple of spots, and the other a yellow swallow tail. Neither has parked long enough for this slow-on-the- uptake photographer to fetch the camera.

However, I did get some advice from Box Elder on how to take macro shots with my PowerShot, which I tried out on my favorite neighborhood ant nest. Almost, but not quite.

My shortage of insects has included caterpillars. No woolly bears, for instance, at least at Chez GrannyJ; the housekeeper who takes care of Mom's apartment mentioned that she has two big mulberry trees over in PV that have been decimated by woolly bears. However, I did come across this pretty green fellow (above) while out walking. He was dining on a four o'clock.

I also discovered these curious insectoid rings on a ceiling in my utility room. Data, anyone?

Here's the exception to the shortage. I always have plenty of grasshoppers. The picture above shows the reason why. And for the really kinky, there are 2000+ more like it at insect porn, a Flickr site.

Later, a Circus Note: I should have mentioned earlier that my post about the mysterious critters that turned out to be box elder bugs got a mention at the Circus of the Spineless, along with a lot of other interesting insect sites. BTW, the Naturalist Notebook, which hosted the Circus, has a number of interesting nature sites worth looking at.

Further PS: I hear today is International Rock Flipping Day. Idea is that you turn over a rock (avoiding known rattlesnake havens and the like) and photograph who and/or what was living there. Let Via Negativa know your results.