
A Painted Lady Butterfly feeds on a Kiawe flower.
A Painted Lady Butterfly feeds on a Kiawe flower.
A Sonoran Carpenter Bee forages on purple bougainvillea flowers.
I was juicing tangerines in the kitchen when I noticed this little bug atop the pile of fruit. I took the tangerine it was on outside and tried to free it onto the rail there. The bug stuck to the fruit, scampering around as I rotated it. Eventually, it dismounted and I went inside to get my camera.
When I started taking photos, the bug accommodated me by approaching the lens. It quickly got too close so I moved to a different spot. The same thing happened. Every time I moved, the bug followed me until we both tired of the game and I left it in peace and it did the same to me.
At first, I thought it was a baby Praying Mantis because of the curve of its body, but a bit of research revealed that this is an Assassin Bug nymph. Assassin Bugs can deliver a painful bite, so maybe it was after me to take me out!
This one was only about half-an-inch long, as indicated by the average-size tangerine on the rail above and the fact the bug is standing on the thin side of a 2×4.
This week’s Sunday Stills challenge theme is ‘A Numbers Game.’ See more responses here. I put all my fingers and thumbs to work for my response, starting with ten Sheep in formation (and ten Cattle Egrets, too, as a bonus).
Next we have nine Spinner Dolphins playing, eight Wild Pigs foraging, seven Cattle Egrets heading to work.
Then there’s six Dung Beetles at work, five Black Triggerfish feeling blue, four Japanese White-eyes bathing.
And finally, three Horses watching, two Hawaiian Monk Seals resting, and one Pueo anticipating zero and lifting off.
It’s the end of another month and time again for Bushboy’s Last on the Card challenge. (See more responses here.) The top photo is the last one I took in May, a Praying Mantis that’s lucky to be alive after I nearly squashed it with a water bottle on the railing where it was perched.
The bottom photo is how I think the photo looks best, cropped and adjusted to focus attention on the mantis and its shadow.
The neighboring property to where I live has recently been sold. There are five rental houses on it and the new owner, wisely, decided to have them tented for termites.
When I saw the colorful tents going up I walked over to take photos. One of the tenants was there and we started talking about the process and, almost simultaneously said, “It looks like a circus.”
And it really does look like that, though the second photo suggests it’s one of those circuses with very scary clowns.
This bee was burrowing in to get what was on offer from a clover flower.
An Ashy Grey Lady Beetle climbs the buds of a Plumeria tree.