Fully into summer now, with plenty of wild flowers blooming and insects of all kinds out and about. A recent hike at the Tolleston Dunes turned into a bugfest. Both literally in terms of the mosquitos, and photographically. When it comes to getting closeup shots of insects it helps to have a telephoto lens with a high magnification factor, that way you can get great images without having to be so close that you frighten off your subject.
The image at the top of this post was the last photograph I took that day. Near the upper left hand corner there is a Weevil, which looks like a beetle with a vacuum hose attachment where the face should be. I like how it appears as if the flower just above it is prepared pounce on the insect.
You would think that a green fly, on a green plant, with a green background would be difficult to spot. But the metallic sheen of this “Long Legged” fly makes it hard to miss. The metallic appearance is actually a diffraction effect.It is hard to miss brilliant orange Butterfly Weed. This rather large hornet had the whole plant all to itself. Another reason for long focal length macro lenses, you are less likely to get stung.And of course, Butterfly Weed attracts butterflies as well as hornets.The harry, spiky beast on the right is a Plume Moth. First time I’ve ever seen one. Nature always has something new to discover, the more you look the more you see.This is not another hornet, or bee. It is actually a Hover Fly. The eyes and wings give it away.Lately I have been practicing taking photographs of insects in flight. A lot of flys, bees, etc. can be challenging to get clear photographs of because they are constantly moving about. If you spend enough time watching, you will notice that some species tend to buzz and hover about the same flower, or patch of flowers. In these situations it is not too hard to catch them in flight between brief landings. The key is to bump your shutter speed as high as you can, sacrificing aperture and ISO in order to freeze their motion.The little white bump on this Black Eyed Susan. Look close (click on the image to view it full size) and you will see the rear end of a spider just to the left of what is its egg sac. I don’t think this particular spider choose a good location. The flower is right on the edge of the trail and the egg sac is in a very visible location.
Tolleston Dunes in the IDNP is one of my favorite trails. It strikes a nice balance between the trails that line the lake front which are dominated by living dunes and interdunal wetlands, and those furthest from the lake that follow the Little Calumet river which feature richer soil with little sand. The Tolleston Dunes trail, as shown in the image above, is still quite sandy but the dunes have stabilized and support a mature forrest ecosystem. It is one of the three trails in the park where you can find Lupine in abundance, along with lots of Birdsfoot Violets, which makes for a very Blue landscape this time of year.
I visited this trail in late April and the Birdsfoot Violets, which have been blooming for a couple weeks now, are easily found in patches along the first third of the trail. I really enjoy the orange contrast in the middle of the flower, and they way it appears to be sticking it’s tongue out at you.There are big patches of Lupine all over this trail. Only a few of them had started to bloom. On this particular day the Bracken Fern were coming up strong, but had not yet crowded everything else out. I was able to get many shots from low vantage points where the Lupine were nicely framed by the ferns.Of course Blue was not the only color present in the floral landscape. There were plenty of vibrant Yellows mixed in with the Blues. There were the occasional Wood Betony and plenty of Horary Puccoon.White flowers were out as well, including plenty of Wild Strawberry. False Solomon’s Seal were just beginning to show, in about a week they will be on full display.Right at the beginning of the trail there is a nice big patch of Purple Deadnettle. A member of the mint family, I see it pretty commonly through out the park. It is not native to the region, though I do not know if it is considered invasive or not.And then there are the Bracken Fern’s. Soon much of the park will be awash in these plants. I have noticed that they all tend to grow to about the same height, and when they spread their leaves it creates a low canopy of green which blocks the sunlight from reaching the ground. I like this phase because you can watch as the ferns emerge and slowly uncoil. First the main stem, and then the leaves unfurl.
