The Elusive Hummingbird

I’ve had a feeder outside my back window for a few years now. I’ve had a difficult time getting a good shot of the hummingbirds that frequent it. The slightest movement from inside the house will spook them, and they fly off. And the times that we’re busy doing things, it doesn’t bother them, and they take their time, changing positions multiple times. Danged if you do, danged if you don’t. One night I decided to try sitting on the swing, not moving, and see what happened.

At first? Not happy with me at all. They hovered above the feeder for a few seconds, checking me out, and then they left. Returned a few minutes later, checked me out, left again. After they realized I wasn’t moving or posing a threat, they settled down, and let me shoot.

Creepy Critters Strike Again!

Midge

Daddy Long-legs

Botanical Garden Critters

Another one of the perks of visiting the Gardens is the wildlife there. Butterflies, moths, tortoises. Critters big and small. Birds darting back and forth across the pathway at shin level. Ducks in the river, downstream of the waterfall. Really a beautiful place.

 

Madagascar Hissing Cockroach

Chameleon

Tenrec

Moth

Creepy Crawlers

Not everything needs to be shot macro. I mean in that getting a close-up of things that are usually too small to see with the naked eye, you get to see what they really look like. And after seeing some things a lot closer than I ever have, if I have to kill anymore spiders, I think I’ll get one of the baseball bats out of the garage.

 

 This is  Platycryptus undatus, aka jumping spider of the salticidae family. Very curious, but no dangerous venom.

This is a wolf spider, identified by the arrow-shaped mark on it abdomen. These are very common in Ohio and they are poisonous. They will run if they see you, but will bite if cornered. The bite will not kill you, but there is an anti-venom at the hospital.

A sandfly, or midge, which is extremely common in this area.

The Toledo Zoo

Bald Eagle

Spider Crab

Lion

Renee, and her now one-month-old, Lucas

 

Eeeeeeew. Seriously.

Used to be I’d have to hunt and think and drive around for pictures to fill posts here. Right now, I’m about a week and a half behind in getting things together. And yet more subjects and objects and things just keep presenting themselves and popping up in my viewfinder. In the grand scheme of things, that’s much better than not. All the same though, I think I’ve run the gamut from beautiful all the way to butt ugly with this post. I’ll keep my descriptions to myself as, you’ll see for yourself, the photos below depict one very not-so-attractive horsefly.

Click to enlarge at your own risk. This site not responsible for nightmares, bad dreams or run-of-the-mill grossing-  or freaking-out.

(The thin line that runs in front of its eye is a single strand of a spider’s web.)

The Smaller They Are, The Bigger They Seem

I found a packet of basil seeds buried in my junk stack recently, and figured I had nothing to lose by planting them.

Thanks to Ricki Ferrence for ID’ing this as a Sphinx moth for me.

Creepier Still….

Been rather lucky with the number and variety of macro subjects that have been available to me of late. The ants on the day lilies recently, and the fly below that almost seemed to want me to photograph it (it let me get very close!). I’ve not seen a lot of bees on the flowers this year, which is not a good thing, not necessarily just for me. The many macros are for Ree and her sister, Cathie, living in southern California.

I’ve written numerous times that you can click on the photo to see a larger version. For these macro posts, I encourage it. The pollen in the lily above is mind-blowing.

Even with all the rain we’ve had, the clematis hasn’t had many blooms. But the ones I’ve seen have been quite beautiful.

Very ugly, but very fascinating.

Still gross.

Too much focus on the lily, and not enough on the fly. Still not too bad (if I may say).

Young wasp? I dunno, but I think he was jealous of the attention the fly was getting, as he buzzed me a few times before landing on the lily.

Close-up and Creepy

The first of (at least) two macro projects for Cathie and Ree.

If You Don’t Know The Words To The Song…

Two summers ago, I was ‘buzzed’ by a hummingbird. I don’t even remember what I was doing, but I was on the side of the house, by the clematis, and there was this loud buzz by my ear. Thinking it was a bumblebee, I ducked and moved backward. As I looked up to see where it was, I saw a hummingbird where I had been standing, and it took off around the front of the house. Since then, I’ve seen other Flickr photographers shoot fantastic pictures of these birds, and even my parents added a feeder to their backyard. They are absolutely fascinating! Mom was kind enough to give me one of her feeders, and I filled it with the sugar water that they like. I put it on a stand outside the back window, and crossed my fingers. Two days later, I was visited. In the last 5 days, I’ve probably taken over 100 pictures, and been absolutely happy with a couple. Cloudy and rainy skies have not helped at all. Better shots will follow, I promise.