Spotted Cucumber Beetle: BBP Species #3

Let me start off by saying I love insects, but I don't really know much about them.  Part of the reason I'm doing this backyard biodiversity project is to learn more.  The interest in insects started because I kept seeing all kinds of creatures living on the plants that I studied, both in the field and at home.

This is a species that it quite common, and it is quite a hated pest.  Known to harm members of the squash family, I actually found several climbing on the petals of my double-flowered green-headed coneflower (Rudbeckia laciniata). They can also exhibit a green color, particularly on the thorax, but this one was primarily yellow.  Its scientific name is Diabrotica undecimpunctata,  the epithet roughly translating to "eleven spots".  The "V" shaped spot counts as one spot, apparently, but doesn't it look like it's split down the middle?  Who am I to argue!

I've been seeing this one for years nearly everywhere I go in Ohio, and now I finally know a little bit more about this relatively common inhabitant of our backyard.  To learn all about them, spending some time reading this page by the University of Florida.  They can damage crop plants in many different ways.  As far as I could tell, this is a native species.

As always, please feel free to add your experiences and knowledge about each creature I feature in the BPP series.  Thanks!

-Tom

Swamp Milkweed Leaf Beetle: BBP Species #1

Ah, were you expecting a orange and black beetle?  While I have seen the adult of this species a few times in our backyard, last night was the first time I saw its larva.  As you can see, this slimy looking creature was actively eating the margin of a common milkweed leaf.  I knew it must be one of the few insects that specializes on milkweed.  My first guess that it might be the larva of a milkweed beetle, but after doing a little research, I believe this is the larvae of the swamp milkweed leaf beetle, Labidoderma clivicollis.  It looks quite different from the adult!  Looking at it in this photo, I really should have touched the beetle- it appears to be wet- is the shiny body sticky?  Slippery?  Hard?  Gooey? I try not to disturb the animals I photograph, but in this case, I wish I would have explored more.

While I've photographed countless numbers of species in our backyard, now that I have started the backyard biodiversity project (let's use BBP for short), I'm going to reset and start from zero.  This is backyard biodiversity project species #1.

-Tom

Summer Solstice Stunning Sunset

Those of us in Columbus were treated to a magnificent sunset last evening as a line of thunderstorms slid to our west, staying clear of the city.  The sun that filtered in behind this line just created one of the most sublime sunsets I have ever witnessed.  It was spectacular!

Happy Summer.

-Tom

Black-throated Blue Warbler in the Bur Oak

This year, I've really been diligent to glass the bur oak each day.  Earlier in the week, I saw a black-throated blue warbler, a first for the yard, during a quick morning scan.  I had to get to the office though, and didn't have time to photograph it.  Fortunately, later in the week, I had the opportunity to watch and photograph this wonderful warbler once again.

-Tom

Female Common Whitetail - Plathemis lydia

Our yard isn't a mecca for dragonflies.  They seldom visit, but every once in a while, they do make an appearance.  This common whitetail was a surprise as it hovered in and out of the bottlebrush grass.  Since I had been photographing absolutely tiny insects, pointing the lens toward this dragon made me feel I was shooting a giant.

-Tom

Common Eastern Firefly - Photinus pyralis

I suspect that the humidity was so high this evening, that this "lightning bug" had to prepare its wings for its nightly flight.  It took several warm up runs leading up to sunset.  Each time I thought it would take off, but no, it was just getting ready.

Also- check the previous post, I've updated it with the help of www.bugguide.net

-Tom

Common Green Bottle Fly

It's time to look for bugs in the backyard again.

-Tom

Sunset

Lately I've been showing photographs of the sunrise, but this evening, I photographed the evening sunset.   I was struck by the contrast between the natural lines created by the gnarled bur oak limbs and the crossing angles created by the contrails just above the horizon.

-Tom

Warm Night in the Suburbs

Tonight I debated this question: Do I go outside and photograph something new, or work on older photos I have not yet processed?  Here's my answer.

-Tom

Worthington Memorial Day Parade, 2011

-Tom

House Wren

Now that I'm working with birds for my "eight to five", well, my work day isn't exactly 8-5 anymore.  This morning I was up at 2:30 am, out the door at 3:20, and headed to the office to be on the road at 4:00  for a northern bobwhite survey in Coshocton County.  I didn't hear any bobwhites, but I was done with survey early enough to be back at home by 10:00 am.  Not bad for a days work, but, it started really early.

That gave me plenty of time to catch up on sleep and take a few photographs of our nesting house wrens this afternoon.  This is the third summer we've had a pair in a wren house since we've moved here almost two years ago.  They're a great bird to photograph- constantly active, they don't move very far, and they're always doing interesting things.

Tom

Assassin Bug with Red Eyes and Sticky Leg Hairs

 Possible Zelus species.

One of my major projects over the past two years has been to document in photos the insects that frequent our suburban yard here in Worthington.  I've let weeds grow up in a few places until my native plantings get established, and these small but wild grassy areas harbor a surprising amount of biodiversity.  Here is another member of the assassin bug family (Reduviidae), which also includes the infamous wheel bug.  I'm not exactly sure which species this red-eyed bug belongs to, but I think it could be a member of the genus Zelus.

What makes this genus interesting is that its members use a technique to catch prey which is downright plant-like. Do you see those tiny hairs on its long legs?  Supposedly, they are able to smear those hairs across a gland on their leg that produces a sticky resin.  If you've got long sticky legs, then all you need to do is hold them out in front of you and just wait to the prey comes to you. It's not dissimilar to how carnivorous sundew plants capture their prey. I didn't know this little tidbit of natural history information when I took this shot in the field-  I simply thought its outstretched arms made for an interesting photograph, but know I know the rest of the story.

Many of the members of the assassin bug family can inflict a painful bite with their long, piercing mouth-part. If one ever lands on you, the writers at Bug Guide recommend flicking away the creature, as squashing it will most likely cause it to bite you.  And I might be especially weary of members of the genus Zelus-  They are named after the minor Greek deity Zelos, who stood for the personification of zeal, rivalry and anger!  

Tom

Photowalk this Saturday Morning at 'The Mac"

Whew!  Two days in a row the field has wiped me out, but they were two very successful days. The week is flying by, and the weekend will soon be here.

As a part of my  nature photography exhibit (along with the photography of Mike Heisey) at the Worthington McConnell Arts Center, I'll be leading a photowalk this Saturday morning at 9:00 am here in Worthington.  We'll be checking out the grounds of the Mac arts center and then we'll head down to the Olentangy River.  I'd love if you could come- and don't forget your camera!

Here's what you need to know:

FREE Class with artist Tom Arbour
Saturday, May 22, 2010 at 9:00am

Join nature professional Tom Arbour Saturday, May 22, 2010 at 9:00am for a morning of nature, photography and fun!

Tom will be guiding a FREE nature walk and shoot complete with tips on capturing brilliant photographs of the event. Wear comfortable clothing, bring your camera - be ready to walk and shoot around Worthington.

Just in case, the "rain date" will be Sunday, May 23, 2010.

McConnell Arts Center
777 Evening Street
Worthington, Ohio 43085




View Larger Map


Tom

Olentangy Rapids

After quite a bit of work with the long lens, this evening I wanted to give my brain a different kind of photo workout, so I headed down to the Olentangy River. The sunset petered out, but the post sunset blues made for a wonderful reflection in the full, ice laden river. The streak in the background is northbound traffic on St. Rt. 315, one of Ohio's busiest commuter freeways.

I've posted this image over at my photo gallery, Tom Arbour Photography, in a much larger size.

Tom

The Best Camera....

Good Morning Squirrel, originally uploaded by Tom Arbour.

......is the one that's with you. That's the title of a book about iphone photography by Chase Jarvis, and I have to agree with him. Yesterday morning, while driving to work headed east along Worthington's Dublin Granville Road, the sky was on fire with purples, pinks, and indigo blue. This was just too good of a sky not to photograph, and as I came to a park along the south side of the road, I knew that I had to pull over. My camera of choice? My trusty new Canon D10, waterproof and ultra-durable, served me well on this cold, dry morning.

Vertical Panorama Photography- The Bur Oak

Hi All- Megan and I are settling back into Ohio. There is just something about a week long vacation in Maine that made me wordless upon our return for a few days, but now that we're here and living our lives once again, I'm getting back into the swing of things.

As a photographer, have you tried shooting multi-image panoramas? If you haven't you really should. It's just crazy fun. I made this seven image composite of our backyard oak tree in Adobe Photoshop CS4. I've also used Canon PhotoStitch to make panoramas. PhotoStich is a free program that came with your Canon camera software (other camera owners will have to help me out with this one- does Nikon offer a free photostitch software?) Even if you don't have a Canon camera, you can download it and use it all for free.

As you can see, even with multiple photographs, I wasn't able to get the whole tree in the frame. Maybe I can? What if I took multiple vertical rows of images stacked upon each other, and then tried to use the Adobe CS4 photomerge tool?

Also- If you do go and try to do this- make sure you shoot in manual and turn off autofocus. You'll want the images to have identical exposures and focal point- if they don't, your finished product could look very strange.

All of this panoramic photography has been prompted by two things. First, this incredible composite image from the latest National Geographic that must be seen in the magazine to be appreciated. And second, I have been tasked to shoot a vertical and horizontal panoramic photograph for my most recent assignment at Columbus State.

Although this type of photography might sound gimmicky, it allows us nature lovers to present the natural world in interesting way that captures so much more information than a single frame image. It's almost like being there, but not quite, but just close enough to be really interesting.

Tom

Also- Here's another free panoramic maker, that a reader pointed out to me, this one from Microsoft.

The Old Bur Oak

Click for a larger image

I'm sitting down here in the man cave, listening to Megan laugh out loud upstairs in the family room. I think she's reading the latest from Janet Evanovich-I know she has been on the waiting list for months at the library.

I'm scrolling though some old photos- I'm thinking of purchasing a new lens for the camera, and I'm strongly considering the super-wide offering from Canon for crop sensor bodies, the 10-22 mm. This lens gets really wide- almost too wide. I rented it last fall and I've been going through those pictures to see how I did with it.

And here's a shot I took and wanted to share with you, but I don't believe it ever made it here. In this image you can see just how freaking huge our backyard Bur Oak really is. See those gigantic, gnarled branches up in the air? They themselves are the size of most tree trunks in our neighborhood. It is a really massive tree, and we're lucky to have it.

We had a great day this morning, as Megan ran in her first 5K, and I walked it with Weston in the jogging stroller- quite fun. I didn't even take any digital photos, just film, with the old early 1970's era Pentax SP500- we'll see how those come out. If you still have an old film camera lying around, run a roll through it now and then, you'll have a blast.

Tomorrow I'll share our images from Clear Creek Metropark.

Tom

P.S. Megan has just informed me she finished the book.

Graphocephala coccinea

For the end of a busy work week, another backyard insect for your viewing pleasure. Tomorrow, Megan and I are planning to take Weston on a little outing to Clear Creek Metropark, it should be fun. Catch you on the backside of that trip.

Tom

Nature Everywhere

I've told myself that nature is everywhere, and I try to sell this to as many people as possible, but sometimes I still surprise myself. Megan, Weston, and I were walking along the east side of High Street in Worthington this past Sunday, browsing the different farmers markets when I noticed this little katydid resting in the grass just off the sidewalk. I picked it up and shot it with the farmers' trucks in the background to emphasize that this is indeed an urban katydid. Hopefully it won't meet the same fate as Pinky!

I haven't tried to identify this one yet, any thoughts? Also- Just in case you were wondering, that large flesh colored object is the thumb and pointer finger of a Homo sapiens.

Tom

We Can Never Escape Nature

Another week in the books my friends. It started off by me calling my doctor, who barely recognized me after not seeing him for 3.5 years. Yes, I'm married now, and I even have a little one. A quick look up my nose, and sure enough, he diagnosed me with a sinus infection, prescribed a round of my favorite antibiotic, amoxicillin, and I was free to go. As the week progressed, I felt the battle going on in my body, good guys vs. bad, and by Friday, I felt like the good guys had vanquished the foe almost completely. I'm finally back to feeling somewhat normal. Not normal enough to go out and ride my bike five miles, but almost normal.

It was a quiet week underneath the old bur oak. Weston may have caught a little bit of my original cold, but by yesterday he seemed back to his old self. Another big step this week- moving him to his big boy bed (crib) in his room all by himself. We're all sleeping better, and that, is simply priceless.

Even though I dearly miss my proximity to the Olentangy, especially now since the ground and sky are screaming late spring, I keep surprising myself that I can get interesting and eye catching nature images right in our backyard, and this week was no exception.









Twenty minutes in the backyard with a nice tool made in Japan and this is what I was able to capture. These creatures are tiny, tiny, tiny. The image of the little pudgy bitty thing on the leaf is a 100% crop, meaning this insect is only a millimeter or less across. Yes, I do have to dig deeper in the backyard to find nature, but it is there. Spiders, slugs, insects, all doing their thing, running the ecosystem, no matter how hard we try to fool ourselves that a giant line is drawn between the human and natural realms. Although our culture does its absolute best to separate ourselves from "nature" and "wild places", we just can't get away, and to me, that is my consolation for living in the manicured suburbs.

Tom

For more blogs about animals, please see Misty Dawn's Camera Critters Meme.