Experimenting up close with the Digital Camera

A few test shots to determine the digital camera’s ability to resolve detail. A special thanks to Lisa Ford of the By-the-Way Café in Tweed for the loan of her camera, a Canon PowerShot A530.

What looked like a piece of cotton fluff floating in the breeze proved to be a Woolly Aphid. This is the limit of the camera’s resolution, set on auto with the macro enabled.

The focus was adjusted manually to take this photo of a Drone Fly. The wing venation is detailed enough to identify this fly as a Syrphid Fly, the spurious vein between the radius and media and the closed anal cell at the wing margin are clearly visible. In fact the shape of the R5 cell pins down this fly as a member of the genus Eristalis. (Source: Petersons Field Guide to Insects)

Lasius niger, the common black ant found in gardens. The focal distance was set manually to zero. Can’t get any closer than this … I was almost on top of the subject and the nearest and furthest points in the image are out of focus.

A Pine Spittlebug (Aphrophora cribrata), this adult is out of his element. Spittlebugs or froghoppers are normally found in meadows, where the nymphs of this insect produce the spittlelike substance found on plants. The picture was taken in shade from about three inches away.

The Long Jawed Orb Weaver (Tetragnatha sp.) in the following picture was only about an inch long; the photo was taken in the relatively poor light of evening. The focal distance was near zero.

This spider is only an eigth of an inch long. At first I thought it might be a Black and Yellow Argiope spiderling but having done some research on the Internet it looks like this is an adult Mangora gibberosa. The light was good but I’m either getting too close to the subject or the other variables such as film speed were set at a less than optimal value. I had to back off to improve the quality of the image.

A Bee flying, some Bee Flies and A Beetle

A bit more on bees, wasps, et al, and their insect imitators. The picture below was a fluke shot ... I happened to catch this Honeybee just as she was launching herself from the goldenrod.

A bee fly, probably a member of the genus Villa.

Another one of our local bee flies: Exoprosopa decora.

Locust Borer (Megacyllene robiniae) ... a beetle impersonating a wasp

Black Horned Tree Cricket (Oecanthus nigricornis)

The first four photos were taken in the evening and the lighting was poor. It seemed like a good time to experiment with the camera's film speed and relative aperture settings. Considering my limited experience with photography to date, the results could have been worse ...

The ovipositor is clearly visible and identifies this cricket as a female.

The next two pictures were taken a few days later under better light. This is the male of the species. Note the lack of an ovipositor and the modified wings; a male cricket chirps or stridulates using its wings to attract a mate.

A female laying its eggs. There were three male crickets all competing for the attention of this sole female. When one male was approached by a second, the first would raise its wings at an angle from its body and trill softly at the second male. I haven't had any luck capturing images of this behaviour as yet ...

It's not an Earwig ...

At first glance a Rove Beetle can easily be mistaken for an earwig. This one wasn't inclined to co-operate and pose for me ... it never rested long enough to fold its wings under its elytra. Due to the beetle being in constant motion and windy conditions and this is the only picture that stayed in focus.

Based on the description in Peterson's Field Guide to the Beetles, and images on the Internet, this looks like Lathrobium sp.

For comparison here's an Earwig (Forficula sp.). The well developed forceps-like cerci on the ends of an earwig's abdomen are hard and ... speaking from experience here ... they can can deliver a good pinch.

Invader from across the pond

I came across this colorful little sawfly today. It was windy, making it difficult to focus the camera, so the pictures are a bit rough around the edges. I did some research on the Internet, and although it's difficult to identify a species by a picture alone I think I've got this right ... this is a Rose Sawfly (Arge ochropa), a European transplant.

For more images of this insect and further reading follow the links below:

BugGuide.Net

Burning Silo

The King of the Butterflies, and an experiment with the digital camera's manual settings

The Monarch's name is well deserved, but it's getting some competition from the Giant Swallowtails gradually moving northward into this area. This scent glands on the hind wings identify this individual as a male.

Larvae of the Monarch (Danaus plexippus) absorb toxins from their food plant, the milkweed. The toxins are present in the adult insect and most predators find this butterfly unpalatable and learn to leave it alone.

The Viceroy, which makes a perfectly good snack for a bird, has capitalized on the Monarch's toxicity by imitating the latter species' bold warning colors. Viceroys are smaller than a Monarch, have a band on the hind wing and lack the white spots on the body. A bird familiar with Monarchs will focus on the orange coloration rather than notice the minor differences – and probably look for dinner elsewhere.

The common Cabbage White (Pieris rapae) is a species introduced from Europe. The butterfly in the photo below is a female, males have only one black spot on the forewing.

This picture was taken in partial shade; the amount of white in the scene overwhelms the camera to the point where the image is blurred if taken on "Auto" in full sunlight.

Today I had the good fortune to cross paths at close range with a Twelve-Spotted Skimmer (Libellula pulchella). These skimmers are strong and fast fliers and tend to rest on the rushes out in the lake, so until today I haven't had any luck getting a good picture. This following photo of a mature male, taken from several feet away, is as close as I have been able to approach one of these elusive insects without a pair of hip waders. Males have a whitish bloom on the wings and their abdomens also whiten with age.

The female in the next three pictures was content to sun herself and didn't seem to mind being approached closely (although this required no small amount of patience on my part). To date I have been relying on the camera's auto and macro settings ... every now and again, for whatever reason, the camera won't focus on the subject. This was one of those times ...

As of a couple of weeks ago I had no clue as to what the ISO film speed numbers or focal length meant, nor how to set these variables on the camera. Having spent some time reading and taking practice shots, now seemed a good chance to put the theory into practice ... so: my first shots with the film speed and focus set manually.

Assassins and Soldiers

Assassin bugs are aptly named. Their appearance and habits suggest the kind of creature a Klingon would appreciate and perhaps keep for a pet. Like their cousins the Amush Bugs these insects lay in wait on a flower, hoping to grasp prey with their spiny forelegs. They inject their victims with venom and suck the tissues through their long beaks ... and can also deliver a painful bite to people if mishandled.

This specimen looks like a member of the genus Sinea, probably Sinea spinipes.

Spined Soldier Bugs (Podisus sp.) feed on insect pests and are beneficial from a human point of view. This Soldier Bug is similar to the Brown Stink Bug but can be distinguished by the much sharper "shoulders" and the brown spot at the end of the wings.

A predatory Stink Bug feeding on a Geometer Moth caterpillar; this bug lacks the sharp epaulettes of the Soldier Bug. The shape and color of the scutellum are distinctive but thus far I haven't had any luck with finding a picture or description to positively identify the species.

While we're on the subject of bugs here's another member of the order Hemiptera: the Small Milkweed Bug (Lygaeus kalmii). As a rule these bugs feed on nectar and milkweeds but they can (based on my observations) be scavengers or possibly even predators.

Small Milkweed Bugs superficially resemble Boxelder Bugs (Boisea trivittatus) but the red markings on the back of the latter insect don't form an "X"; I'll post a picture in the near future.

Compare the pattern on the back of this Boxelder Bug (Boisea trivittata) to the Milkweed Bugs above.

The Leaf Footed Bug (Leptoglossus occidentalis) is believed to feed on red pine and Scots pine seeds; this bug has been expanding its east from its natural range on the west coast of north America.