pieceoflace's photostream  

Good morning everyone and Happy Dragonfly Thursday. Sorry about another series on a Halloween Pennant (Celithemis eponina) today, but I couldn't resist posting this series of a female because of the pretty lime green background. It compliments the colors of the dragonfly beautifully IMHO.

Thank you for visiting...and I hope you have a terrific Thurday. I forgot, thanks to Brian for reminding me...Happy Groundhog Day to everyone.

Lacey

ISO400, aperture f/11, exposure .004 seconds (1/250) focal length 300mm

Good morning everyone. It's not often I post something on a Wednesday, but at the request of flickr friend Niveditha, I decided to post a series on wild garlic. Something I've been wanting to do for a long time, but never got around to it. It's been so long that except for one photo taken in 2011, the rest including the above were taken in 2008.

The most common wild garlic locally is a species known as Crow Garlic (Allium vineale) or Field Garlic, and for this series I'll refer to it as such so as not to confuse it with another species of wild garlic also found locally, being Canadian Garlic (Allium canadese). Of the two, the Crow Garlic is more widespread.

I included a side by side pic of both species in the comment section for comparison purposes. Otherwise all photos and text pertain to the Crow or Field Garlic.

I hope you enjoy this series and find the provided commentary informative.

Thank you for stopping by...and I hope you have a truly nice first day of February.

Lacey

ISO200, aperture f/6.7, exposure .008 seconds (1/125) focal length 240mm

Good morning everyone and Happy Hug a Bug Day. I was working on a series on moths I photographed last season to post, but ran out of time to complete it for today. So instead just a single posting of a Orange-tipped Leaf-footed Bug (Anasa tristis) a member of the family Coreidae.

Coreidae are a large family of predominantly herbivorous insects that belong in the hemipteran suborder Heteroptera. There are more than 1,800 species in over 250 genera. They vary in size from .250 - 1.750 inches (7 to 45 mm) in length, making the larger species some of the biggest heteropterans. The body shape of Coreids is quite variable, with some species broadly oval while others are slender. Coreids are found throughout the world but most species are found in the tropics and subtropics.

In North America they are colloquially called “squash bugs” because some species, such as Anasa tristis, are pests of squashes. They are also called “leaf-footed bugs” due to the leaf-like expansions some species have on their hindlegs that can be clearly seen above.

Thank you for stopping by...and I hope you have a truly nice last day of January, which is ending on a warm note here locally.

Lacey

ISO400, aperture f/11, exposure .006 seconds (1/180) focal length 300mm

Good morning. I hope everyone had a nice weekend and Happy Butterfly Monday. As the title indicates, featured again for today is an American Snout (Libytheana carinenta), a butterfly I rarely see. Typically only a few in a given year if I'm lucky as they are not very common here locally since the ones we do have are migrants from further south.

As for these photos, it's the same butterfly I featured in a series last July (2011) and all were taken at the reclaimed strip mine. Normally Snouts are quite skitterish, but this one was very co-operative while feeding on Fleabane, and in between when resting. It was the only Snout of just three I saw last season in which I was able to photograph.

Thank you for stopping by, and good night Mrs. Calabash...wherever you are.

Lacey

ISO400, aperture f/11, exposure .004 seconds (1/250) focal length 300mm

Good morning everyone. For Feathery Friday I thought I would post a short series on the American Goldfinch (Carduelis tristis), also known as the Eastern Goldfinch and Wild Canary. These tiny birds are year around resident here and the only type bird (i.e. a finch) that I have a feeder for since the resident squirrels can't get at the seed.

As for these photos, all were taken at the end of 2011 and all the birds, especially the males, are in their winter plumage. To see a male in its summer plumage, which is dramatically different than the male pictured in the first photo in the comment section, please click on below link...

www.flickr.com/photos/pieceoflace/5713105654/

Thank you for visiting...and I hope you have a terrific Friday and a most pleasant weekend.

Lacey

ISO400, aperture f/8, exposure .006 seconds (1/180) focal length 500mm