Friday, July 11, 2014

From my garden series - Interesting insects part 2

I've been experimenting with my twin flash, Canon 100 mm f/2.8L lens, and two extension tubes. It's much more challenging to maneuver close to an insect with such a large contraption on the end of the camera, and I've discovered that the long legged flies do not like the flash at all. Everytime I click the shutter button and the flash begins, the flies jump. Sometimes I get lucky and the fly is still in focus, as you'll see below. 

Here's what I saw yesterday evening:

Lucilia sp. - a beneficial insect for the garden.

longhorn grasshopper - aka tree cricket. This is a nymph.

Red aphids - fortunately, I've only seen these on a weed that has taken over some brickwork.

Condylostylus sipho - female - long legged flies do not like the flash!

Flesh fly - Sarcophaga sp.

Harvestman - aka Daddy Longlegs. Not a spider - closer to a scorpion than a spider.

Bombus impatiens - visiting my purple coneflowers

I've never seen a dragonfly in the garden before, so this was a welcome addition to my collection...

Another harvestman

Cute leaf hopper - I've learned where these guys hang out in the front garden.
No clue as to the moth or butterfly species, but this caterpillar is happily chomping on my crassula in the front garden.

2 comments:

Bob Klips said...

Super nice! Do I see an MP-E 65 in your future? (Answer: yes.)

Andi Wolfe said...

Thanks, Bob -

Yes, I'm considering the MP-E-65. I'll be checking out the Macroscopic Solutions booth at Botany 2014. They have a system that looks interesting (probably way out of my price range, though).