CalevPhoto

A day of ducks and bugs

Last week I decided to spend some time photographing the ducks by building 30.  I felt a bit strange, as the last time I took the time to photograph ducks, I had just bought my camera.  I find it rather humorous how every photographer seems to start with ducks.  They are easy to find, pretty, and don’t mind us getting close.

We watched the ducks for about a half hour.  I didn’t get any shots that I am particularly crazy about, but it was interesting watching them.

From watching them I learned that each pair of ducks seems to have a territory.  Generally the territory is defined by some natural obstacles – such as a fallen tree or some branches.  When another duck (particularly a male) enters this territory the other male will slowly glide towards it.  Most of the time, the intruder responds by backing off and leaving the duck’s territory.  However, once in awhile they start fighting.

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Insect Wednesday

Last weekend was a productive weekend for me, photography-wise.  I wandered around my yard looking for interesting subjects and found several, without having to look very hard.  This fly was very gracious to let me get several shots off.

I also learned a new trick.  One thing to make sure to not do when photographing flies is to get in their light.  I played around with this one to see how much it does truly matter.  Sure enough, whenever I stood in its light, the fly took off.  Therefore I approached from a direction such that my lens would not cast a shadow on the fly.

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To be a springtail, or not to be a springtail

A few days ago while examining my patio furniture for more insects after my last find, I found some interesting critters on a chair cover.  My first reaction is it’s a springtail, but I’m not entirely sure.

It certainly looks like a springtail, but I couldn’t find any pictures resembling it on the identification site for springtails.  (Update: after posting this shot on Flickr I have found out that it is not a springtail but a juvenile Hemiptera) Speaking of the patio furniture, I find it quite interesting that it’s so popular with insects.  I would be curious to know what they find so interesting with patio furniture covers.  I just hope when the weather gets better they still find the patio furniture itself to be interesting – as right now it is one of the best places in my yard to find things.

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It’s freezing here!

OK, perhaps I have lived in the Pacific Northwest too long, because I should not be surprised at snow in April, which was very common in upstate New York where I grew up.  However, here it is a very strange phenomenon to be so cold and receive snow that actually sticks to the ground close to April!  Last week it was cold and rainy almost every day, which has made insect photography much more difficult.  On Thursday I spend an hour by the pond near my office and for the first time that I can remember I couldn’t find a single interesting thing to take a photograph of.  Other than a few pill bugs there wasn’t much that I could find interesting.  I had hoped to find a spider web with dew drops on it, but the majority of ground spiders (the larger orb weavers aren’t out yet) decided to not show up.

However, I felt the need to be stubborn and spent some time on Friday in my backyard, where I have a better sense of where to find certain insects.  Still, I found it very difficult to find much of interest to photograph.  I eventually decided to cool looking for insects and photographed a dandelion that was ready to burst.

Generally I have found that when I have difficulty finding something, turn to a different subject and your original subject will eventually capture your eye.  Shortly after playing with the dandelion, this turned out to be true once again.

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It’s freezing here!

OK, perhaps I have lived in the Pacific Northwest too long, because I should not be surprised at snow in April, which was very common in upstate New York where I grew up.  However, here it is a very strange phenomenon to be so cold and receive snow that actually sticks to the ground close to April!  Last week it was cold and rainy almost every day, which has made insect photography much more difficult.  On Thursday I spend an hour by the pond near my office and for the first time that I can remember I couldn’t find a single interesting thing to take a photograph of.  Other than a few pill bugs there wasn’t much that I could find interesting.  I had hoped to find a spider web with dew drops on it, but the majority of ground spiders (the larger orb weavers aren’t out yet) decided to not show up.

However, I felt the need to be stubborn and spent some time on Friday in my backyard, where I have a better sense of where to find certain insects.  Still, I found it very difficult to find much of interest to photograph.  I eventually decided to cool looking for insects and photographed a dandelion that was ready to burst.

Generally I have found that when I have difficulty finding something, turn to a different subject and your original subject will eventually capture your eye.  Shortly after playing with the dandelion, this turned out to be true once again.

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An invasion of springtails!

This weekend I decided to check around my backyard again for some interesting shots.  I have grown to know my yard very well – with a good idea of what I can find where.  It’s not a very large yard at 10,000 sq ft and it’s in the center of suburban Bellevue.  Still, with a bit of patience and some searching I am usually rewarded in time, even though spring hasn’t really hit yet so most insects are not in plain view.

Still, I was a bit bored of the usual places, so I decided to pick some place new.  On the side of our house, in a spot where we rarely go, we have a giant camellia that has grown taller than our house.  I decided to crawl under the lower limbs and found a spot in a pile of leaf litter near an old fountain that is no longer in operation.  I then started going through the leaves to see what I could find.

In some respect, I was a bit disappointed by the day because I was really hoping to find a beetle.  While I did not find a beetle during the hour I spent outside, I learned that there are a number of springtails that occupy our backyard.  A lot of the smaller creatures were difficult to photograph and often wound up disappearing on me.  I only managed to get two shots of this springtail before it disappeared.

What interested me most about this shot is this is not the typical globular springtail I normally find in the garden.  Upon looking at my insect book, this appears to be an Orchesella villosa, a species that is originally from the British isles but has since migrated over here.  Of course, given the huge number of springtail species out there, there exists a high probability that I am wrong.  However, the picture in my book certainly looks similar.  I found a number of these, but this was the only one I managed to get a picture of.  OK, at least I think I saw a number of them – as with the naked eye they just look like a speck.  Usually I am forced to take all of my springtail shots at 5x.

Seeing so many springtails in the leaf litter reinforces to me the fact that they are instrumental in the creation of soil.  Also, they were incredibly numerous, though it took some patience to get one into view.  They can be quite frustrating to find in the viewfinder, especially when they are moving (which was the case with this one).  I have come up with a new technique with the MP-E 65 though that has been bringing me some success.  I start at 1x or 2x and once I have the subject in focus I slowly zoom to 5x.  I have found success in this method even when the insect is mobile.

This springtail was much more patient with me.

This is the standard globular springtail that I normally see around the garden, though I suspect it may be a slightly different species than the one I normally find.  For reference, here’s the kind I normally see.

The new springtail differs from this one in several remarks.

1) It is “hairier”

2) It is bigger – both shots were at 5x.

3) This one was found in rather wet wood, while the other is almost always found on leaves.

Therefore I suspect that these are both different species of globular springtails, but I have no idea which ones.  I did manage to find springtail site, from someone who obviously knows a lot more about springtails than I do.

The final springtail I took for the day was on my kids’ slide, a location where I almost always find something.  Unfortunately by that time the batteries in my MT-24EX had already died.  I currently power my MT-24EX with 4 Eneloop batteries, combined with a CP-E3 with eight more Eneloops.  While the CP-E3 still had power, the lamps on the MT-24EX can only be powered by its batteries, so my flash worked but the lamps did not.

This appears to be another Orchesella springtail, but a different species than the first one.  From the pictures on the site above, this may be an Orchesella cincta, but again that is only a guess.  It’s fascinating what you can find when you just look a little harder.  What seems like a lifeless, cold place becomes a thriving metropolis of creatures when you begin to look closer.

The incredible springtail

One of the “new” bugs I have encountered since getting involved in macro photography is the springtail. These are fascinating, but tiny little creatures. Until I had a macro lens, I would just see some tiny little bug but I had no idea what they were nor what they truly look like.

Springtails are among the most numerous and important bugs on earth. They live everywhere on earth and have one of the highest concentrations of any non-microscopic creature. In some areas they average 100,000 per square meter of soil! In fact, springtails are one of the primary drivers behind soil. They chew down different fungi and their excretions make up an important element of soil. So yes, the next time you crawl in the dirt you are really crawling in springtail poop. J They are also extremely important as prey for a number of other insects. So without further ado, here is the springtail.

You may not agree, but I think they are cute little buggers. Actually, there is a growing consensus that springtails are not insects at all, but they are considered to have different evolutionary development than the rest of insects, according to the Wikipedia article. The scientific name for springtail is the order collembola. This particular springtail is called a “globular springtail” and is in the suborder symphpleona.

Photographing springtails can be quite a challenge because they are so small. I have to use 5x for all springtails and I really wish that I could get above 5x for many of them. Many of them are quite patient for photographing, but it can be challenging getting them in the viewfinder. The following is a recent shot I did.

I suspect that these varieties are not the ones so prevalent in the soil. I am currently unsure what their exact diet is, though I suspect it is also different types of fungi. I really wish I knew more about these particular springtails, so if anyone has more information it would be appreciated.