After a rather cool start, summer here has turned hot and humid. Last weekend was an interesting variation in that it was cool at about 70 degrees, but the humidity was at the saturation point. Cool enough for long sleeves to protect against the mosquitos, but after walking 10 feet you are pretty much covered in sweat that ain’t going nowhere until you shower. Perfect conditions for a nice walk around a marsh out on the Cowles Bog trail. Pretty much everything that lives in a marsh loves these conditions so it is well worth putting up with a bit of misery to get out in nature for a bit.
Lots of purples, pinks and reds on the marsh this time of year. This arachnid is a Harvestman, not a daddy long legs. Nor is it a spider. One difference is that spiders have to liquify the innards of their prey in order to consume them, but Harvestmen can eat solid foods. The moisture coating all the leaves is not from rain, just condensation from the saturated air!It is always wise to look both left and right before crossing the leaf…This is a mosquito. Not the kind that bites and leaves itchy welts, but the kind that feeds off of nectar and acts as a pollinator. Unfortunately for this mosquito however, a perfectly camouflaged Crab Spider was lying in wait when it landed for a quick hit of nectar. The body and hind legs of the Crab are an almost perfect match for the color of the flower, but the two pair of massive reddish-brown forelegs running diagonal behind the mosquito are unmistakable. Of course the fact that the mosquito appears to be lying on its back, with its legs up in the air is a bit of a tip off that something is up. Is this Caterpillar a future Butterfly or Moth? My Caterpillar ID skills are not particularly good. What I do know is I love the red and yellow highlights on this one.
Oh yeah. I was covered in sweat and mosquito welts by the end of the hike, but it was worth it. Always is. Nature is awesome.
I never gave much thought to flys before I started noticing them in my photographs of wildflowers. Always thought of them as biting, garbage eating pests. But it turns out that they are actually quite beautiful creatures, and there are more different types of flys than I had ever imagined. Over 150,000 species which have been cataloged. And the annoying types are very much in the minority.
These days I flys are one of my favorite photographic subjects. I am starting to know when and where to look for them. I have even begun practicing photographing them in flight, which is quite challenging, but a lot of fun. All of these flys were observed and photographed along the Great Marsh trail in the Indiana Dunes National Park.
I said most varieties of fly are not the annoying kind, but I will start off with a common Deer Fly. Large, black and they bite. But when viewed up close like this I still find them to be fascinating creatures.Quite possibly another Deer Fly, but not at all certain about that. I love the head on this one. The deep maroon eyes with the whitish bands between them are quite striking.I have no idea what type of fly this is, but the brown pattern on the tan eyes is stunning.Based on the eyes and the pattern of markings on the body I suspect that this is a “Flower Fly”, of the subfamily Eristalinae. They eat nectar and are important pollinators, hence the name Flower Fly. They are one of my favorites.Another type of Flower Fly is the Hoverfly. They have the ability to hover like like bees and are frequently found feeding on the nectar of wildflowers.Another Hoverfly. I came across this one early in the day when the air was still cool. It remained stationary long enough for me to position my camera directly in front of it.Many Flower Flys have evolved to mimic Bees and Hornets. In fact it can sometimes be very hard to tell them apart. Another Bee mimicking Flower Fly. I was able to position my camera almost directly above this one which allowed me to get the entire span of the wings in focus. The lines and colors are wonderful.This is one of my favorite photo sequences. At the time I was just taking multiple shots to maximize my chances of getting one that was in good focus. Turned out that all three were in focus and when viewed one after the other it looks like this fly was doing push-ups!
