[jacamar]

That's a great shot, jacamar. What lens and settings did you use?

Thanks onlineflyer. I have to admit that my camera was set up for my telephoto lens and TC and I failed to change the settings for the first few shots after I put the macro lens on. 1/800 @ f8, ISO3200 (I let the ISO float when I do telephoto). Sometimes things have a way of working themselves out!
Pentax K-3 camera, Tamron 90mm f2.8 Macro.

[TER-OR]

very closely cropped and pp

paper wasp perhaps ( I hope it wasn't a yellow jacket )

My guess is a square-headed wasp of some sort. Bug Guide will tell you, they really want pictures of wasps for distribution analysis.

[pepperberry farm]

honeybees

[aslyfox]

extreme crop and pp

hand held, natural light

dragon fly

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Last edited by aslyfox; 09-02-2017 at 01:03 PM.

[pepperberry farm]

[aslyfox]

I thought there may be two but ??


I know there is three in # 2

[aslyfox]

learned something new about a beetle I have been seeing

The Goldenrod Leatherwing, [I]Chauliognathus pennsylvanicus ]/I],

" is commonly seen in late summer and early fall on goldenrod flowers where it feeds on nectar, pollen, and insects " - Soldier Beetles of Kentucky - University of Kentucky Entomology

a type of soldier beetle

my initial source thought they were pests as they eat pollen but the educational source says they are beneficial

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[goatsNdonkey]

Interesting! I see those critters all the time, probably because we have a fair about of Showy Goldenrod around.

For a bit of perspective, keep in mind that bumble bees collect prodigious amounts of pollen as food for themselves and their offspring, but in the process a fair amount of pollen sticks to the bumblebee, instead of going into its pollen sacks. In visiting other flowers, to collect more pollen for food, they also transfer pollen stuck to them to the stamens of other flowers, so the flowers still win in the bargain. Probably the same applies to the Goldenrod Leatherwing -- sure it eats some of the pollen, but it also transfers pollen from plant to plant.

learned something new about a beetle I have been seeing

The Goldenrod Leatherwing, [I]Chauliognathus pennsylvanicus ]/I],

" is commonly seen in late summer and early fall on goldenrod flowers where it feeds on nectar, pollen, and insects " - Soldier Beetles of Kentucky - University of Kentucky Entomology

a type of soldier beetle

my initial source thought they were pests as they eat pollen but the educational source says they are beneficial

[aslyfox]

my original source indicated that he has examined them and they don't have the " hairs " that bees and other pollinators have, they are similar to lightening bugs

he told me he had never seen any with pollen stuck to their bodies.

???

[goatsNdonkey]

my original source indicated that he has examined them and they don't have the " hairs " that bees and other pollinators have, they are similar to lightening bugs

he told me he had never seen any with pollen stuck to their bodies.

???

Clean-shaven, hmmm? Well, maybe the flowers they visit make enough surplus pollen, for the pollinators who also eat pollen, that these pollen theives don't really make much difference. Ants are nectar thieves, and don't do much pollinating (mainly because they don't fly), but I don't think they take enough nectar (most of the time) to reduce what's available to the pollinators visiting flowers for nectar.

Now I'm going to have to look at one of those soldier beetles with a magnifying glass to see if I can see anyplace pollen can and does stick to.

[aslyfox]

Clean-shaven, hmmm? Well, maybe the flowers they visit make enough surplus pollen, for the pollinators who also eat pollen, that these pollen theives don't really make much difference. Ants are nectar thieves, and don't do much pollinating (mainly because they don't fly), but I don't think they take enough nectar (most of the time) to reduce what's available to the pollinators visiting flowers for nectar.

Now I'm going to have to look at one of those soldier beetles with a magnifying glass to see if I can see anyplace pollen can and does stick to.

P M sent

[timb64]

DA55-300WR

[goatsNdonkey]

P M sent

A little follow-up for the thread on the Leatherwing Soldier Beetle, which Aslyfox photographed so well (see a few posts earlier). We continued discussion about their being more likely pollen thieves than pollinators in a Private Message exchange. Not wishing to think of them as all bad, I managed to find a webpage showing one of them with pollinia, the little structures connected in pairs like saddlebags which milkweed pollen comes in, clasped on its legs. It doesn't look like he's eating that pollen, and if he visits enough other milkweed blossoms after that one, the pollen sacks will get caught in the trap-like slits the flowers have for them. So at least one flower species can outsmart the Leatherwing beetle at pollination time.

Here's the link showing the picture of the Leatherwing with Pollinia. --

Leatherwing beetle with milkweed pollinia - Chauliognathus marginatus - BugGuide.Net

Here's another link showing a great many different insect species participating in milkweed pollination, a fun thing to watch for while out hunting insects with a camera! --

Insects Carrying Milkweed Pollinia

[TER-OR]

Garden spider with Eastern Amberwing - even predators have predators.
[IMG][/IMG]

Crab spider munching on another spider - male, maybe?
[IMG][/IMG]

[jacamar]

Do you prefer your Monarchs served on Asters or Goldenrod?





Dragonfly rescued from trying to get through the metal grate of a viewing stand. I'll add the i.d. later if I can figure it out.