I don’t see a lot of mushrooms in the yard here, but this one popped up recently and I liked how it looked in the grass.
Mushroom in the grass
Tag Archives: Macro
Gecko on red ginger
A photo taken for the colors and the light!
When is a plant not a plant?
When it’s a bird! This Red Button Ginger certainly looked like a bird, and it was taking a bunch of ants along for the ride.
Stop that incessant buzzing
I couldn’t resist returning to the Agave Attenuata currently blooming in the yard. On this occasion, I was watching a gecko buried in the flower when one of the bees that have been collecting from the flowers came into the frame.
The gecko looked decidedly unimpressed by the bee’s proximity, and relieved when it disappeared.
Posted for Becky’s Squares theme of “Walking” (See more responses here).
Monarch Butterfly caterpillar
Yesterday, I posted about Aphis nerii aphids descending on a Hawaiian Crown Flower (Calotropis gigantea). After they were gone the plant continued to do well for a day or two. Then holes started to appear in the leaves and arcs along the edges.
Closer examination revealed a couple of tiny Monarch Butterfly caterpillars munching their way around the leaves. The Crown Flower is a favorite host for these caterpillars, so this wasn’t a surprise. We were also keen to provide an area for the Monarchs to thrive in. So we let the caterpillars be and monitored the situation.
What happened, not surprisingly, is that the caterpillars grew quickly. As they did so, the leaves of the plant diminished accordingly. I was gone for my weekend, and when I returned, the caterpillars had more than doubled in size. The plant though looked like someone had gone at it with a machete. We wondered if the caterpillars would devour the whole thing before they pupated.
When I returned to work after another weekend, the caterpillars were gone. As the Crown Flower was food for the caterpillars, so it appeared, the caterpillars were food for the numerous birds in the area.
The plant will likely recover from its ravishing and, once it’s bigger, it might be better able to accommodate the attentions of these caterpillars and in turn provide more cover for them from the birds. Or not! I will monitor the situation.
Posted for Becky’s Squares theme of “Walking” (see more responses here).
Aphis nerii aphids
I like hiking, as indicated by my last few posts, but I’m equally happy with a walk around the yard, at home or at work.
Recently, we planted a Hawaiian Crown Flower (Calotropis gigantea) at work. This was a stick with two small leaves on top. The two leaves dried up and the stem turned brown. It looked doomed, but then new leaves popped out near the bottom and the plant took off. New leaves every day, steady growth.
Then one day these showed up, little yellow drops, like tiny lemon candies. Close examination revealed legs and heads. Aphids! I think these are Aphis nerii, otherwise known as the Oleander or Milkweed aphid. These little sap suckers can do a lot of damage so we hosed them off, though I doubt the ladybug in the bottom photo was best pleased since aphids are a tasty meal for them.
Still, with the aphids gone, the plant continued to thrive until … (to be continued)
Posted for Becky’s Squares theme of “Walking” (See more responses here).
Stink bug
Recently, I posted (here) about a wasp I saw clambering through the grass. The reason I noticed the wasp was because I was down on my hands and knees taking photos of this creature. I think this is a Four-humped Stink Bug (Brochymena quadripustulata).
Like the wasp, the stink bug was going up and down blades of grass, though less frenetically than the wasp. After a while, it tired of my attentions and took off, flying directly towards my nose, a hard-to-miss target. I ducked out of the way and it whizzed by and disappeared.
Passing through
This week’s Sunday Stills challenge theme is ‘Fleeting Moments.’ See more responses here.
The orange and black spiky thing is a Passion Vine Butterfly caterpillar, which I saw munching on a passion vine, as they do. The fly didn’t register with me until I processed the photos, but it was definitely a fleeting moment.
Graham's Island 