Tag: Virginia

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Eastern Carpenter Bee Landing On Thin-Leaved Sunflower

photograph of an Eastern Carpenter Bee landing on a Thin-Leaved Sunflower

During a photo outing to shoot wildflowers I decided to take a few backlit shots.  In the process I began tracking a few Eastern Carpenter Bees as they passed by.  I was lucky enough to capture this one as it prepared to land on a thin-leaved sunflower.

I like the way backlit flowers almost glow but that’s pretty easy to predict, setup and shoot.  After all, except for the wind, the flowers aren’t really moving.  I was really pleased with the lighting of the bee in this photo.

Like most of the photos on my blog, you can click the image to open a larger version of the photo.  Check out all the pollen covering this bee.  This clearly wasn’t its first flower of the day.

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Pennsylvania Leatherwing Beetle on Thin-Leaved Sunflower

photograph of a Pennsylvania Leatherwing Beetle on Thin-Leaved Sunflower

At first I thought the beetle on this thin-leaved sunflower was a soldier beetle but something didn’t look quite right.  Looking more closely I’ve identified it as a Pennsylvania Leatherwing Beetle.  According to insectidentification.org, the Pennsylvania Leatherwing Beetle is highly beneficial in their predation of aphids.  As a bonus, their quest for insect prey turns them into efficient pollinators.

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Paper Wasp on Lance-Leaved Goldenrod

photograph of a paper wasp on lance-leaved goldenrod

I had a little trouble identifying this species of wasp but I believe it is a paper wasp.  In my experience they are not aggressive unless you disturb their nests.  In this case I was photographing wildflowers when the wasp approached to gather nectar.  I sat still, watched and photographed it and the wasp didn’t even seem to notice me.

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Skipper on Thin-Leaved Sunflower I

 

 

photograph of a skipper butterfly on a thin-leaved sunflower flower

 

Last Saturday morning I walked through an open field covered in wildflowers.  I always like diving into areas like that and discovering all the little things you would miss if you didn’t actually look for them.  On this particular morning I found the butterflies, bees, wasps, and dragonflies had their run of the meadow.  This little skipper was feeding on the nectar of thin-leaved sunflowers which dominated the field.

 

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Black Eyed Susan

photograph of a wild black-eyed susan flower growing in a field

It’s been a very busy summer and I haven’t spent as much time with my camera as I would have liked so I’m pulling out some photos from last year that I never got around to publishing.

This Black Eyed Susan was growing in a forest meadow alongside wild daisies.  It looked sort of like the odd man out, surrounded by white flowers.  I took a few photos of the lone blooming Black Eyed Susan surrounded by Daisies but I preferred this more closely cropped image of the flower.