[WPRESTO]

I. Miss. Spring. SO. Much! (At least November is an opportunity to get some pp done...)

"O, wind. If winter comes, can Spring be far behind?"

[MetteHHH]

"O, wind. If winter comes, can Spring be far behind?"

Thanks Walt, I will try to get into that spirit. There's no shortage of west wind to address, for sure!

And meanwhile, I have enough unprocessed insect photos to keep me going through winter...

[bluestringer]

Beautiful eyelashes on this one.....

[noelcmn]

Mating Robber Flies


Prior to that shot, which was as a result of me hunting them down, I came across them in the grass. One had a fly in its jaws. Talk about multitasking

[MetteHHH]

Mating Robber Flies
Prior to that shot, which was as a result of me hunting them down, I came across them in the grass. One had a fly in its jaws. Talk about multitasking

Great shots Noel! As for the multitasking, I think robber fly matings often involve nuptial gifts, so it might be considered part of the ritual, so to speak.

[noelcmn]

Thank you. That is interesting info. And now I feel even more guilty, as me chasing them around, resulted in abandoning the catch.

[noelcmn]

[MetteHHH]

Oooh, Noel, that's a sand tiger beetle! And a species of sand tiger beetle that I have never seen before (unsurprisingly maybe).

We have two species of sand tigers in Denmark, green and brown, and we call them "beetles on stilts" because their long legs allow them to hunt on warm sand without getting overheated. Yours has even longer legs, which makes a lot of sense, since your sand is probably warmer!

Here's our brown tiger:

[WPRESTO]

Oooh, Noel, that's a sand tiger beetle! And a species of sand tiger beetle that I have never seen before (unsurprisingly maybe).

We have two species of sand tigers in Denmark, green and brown, and we call them "beetles on stilts" because their long legs allow them to hunt on warm sand without getting overheated. Yours has even longer legs, which makes a lot of sense, since your sand is probably warmer!

Here's our brown tiger:

I don't know the count in the USA, but there may be in excess of 100 species of tiger beetle in the USA. Most of them are extremely rare and confined to one or two sand bars along one river. A few are ubiquitous. In my area there is a green tiger beetle which is the only one I've ever seen, but there are numerous other species in New England, again in very small numbers and confined to a few particular sandy places where they reproduce.

Back after running some errands with time to do a little research.

The genus Cicindela = "tiger beetle" has between 850 and 2300 species depending on the authority. The genus is recognized world-wide so those in Denmark and So. Africa are the same genus as those in my backyard. The most common species by far locally is the six-spotted tiger beetle, C. sexguttata, but the white spots are not so striking as the brilliant metallic green.

[noelcmn]

Oooh, Noel, that's a sand tiger beetle! And a species of sand tiger beetle that I have never seen before (unsurprisingly maybe).

We have two species of sand tigers in Denmark, green and brown, and we call them "beetles on stilts" because their long legs allow them to hunt on warm sand without getting overheated. Yours has even longer legs, which makes a lot of sense, since your sand is probably warmer!

Here's our brown tiger:

My indebtedness with you is getting bigger and bigger, with all this info you are supplying. Maybe I should stop posting here, before the Invoice arrives . Thank you so much. Had no idea what it was.

The same applies to this one.

[MetteHHH]

My indebtedness with you is getting bigger and bigger, with all this info you are supplying. Maybe I should stop posting here, before the Invoice arrives . Thank you so much. Had no idea what it was.

The same applies to this one.

The pleasure is entirely mine! It is always good to be reminded of all the things left to experience - and luckily there are more amazing creatures than there is time to meet them all!

That one baffles me as well. It might be some distant relation of these?

[bluestringer]

Mating Robber Flies


Prior to that shot, which was as a result of me hunting them down, I came across them in the grass. One had a fly in its jaws. Talk about multitasking

Great images.

[noelcmn]

Thank you!

[rjbrett]

Rattle Ants beginning to build a nest (K5 & Super-Multi-Coated Macro Takumar 50mm f4) & then a mature nest (Pentax K5 & Vivitar AF 100mm f3.5 Macro). I had to tap the branch holding the nest to bring the ants out in these numbers. They are called rattle ants as they rattle their feet on the leaves when they think danger is around. It's quite audible - my brother in law and I had always called them the "chittering" ants till I looked them up after taking these photos;

[noelcmn]

Got a few Dragons in flight the other day