Insect Photography

I've mentioned it a couple times, but I love nature. I really do. I'm fascinated by the animal kingdom and its many strange ways. I am especially drawn to a lot of the less "popular" animals - insects, fish, reptiles, and other invertebrates. My favorite animal, by the way, is the octopus. You may have been expecting praying mantis, but no - they're right near the top, but not my favorite. Regardless, insects and the other land-living arthropods (spiders, centipedes, etc) have always been favorites of mine because of their small size and abundance.

Here are some photos I've taken of insects over the last couple years.

Japanese beetles are an invasive pest species that strip plants in great numbers. They've been a bit less common around here in recent years, but there's still plenty to go around in the second half of summer.

This critter is a type of stinkbug. Stinkbugs are beetles best known for their noxious odor, hence the name. I've encountered stinkbugs several times but never been attacked by their smelly spray, luckily enough. They like to show up in fall.

Crane flies are strange animals - how did evolution decide that this was a good idea? I'm still not sure, myself, but something about these long-legged, ungainly, poor flyers with no working mouthparts is a success because I see plenty of them every August.

The other pics here are all a year or three old, but this one was shot just two weeks ago. It is, of course, a bumblebee. Bumblebees are simultaneously cute and intimidating - they can sting multiple times since their stingers don't have barbs, but if you leave them alone they're generally happy campers and won't try to fight you.

Just a few moments after photographing the above bee, this wasp flew in to visit the same plant. It was a lot more active than the bee, so I was lucky to get a shot this nice.

Out of all my insect photos, this is the one I'm proudest of. This butterfly wasn't feeling too well and so I was able to get a spectacular shot of it by picking it up and letting it sit on these flowers. Later the weather warmed up enough for it to fly away.