Tag Archives: Macro

Blue-eyed Ensign Wasp

A Blue-eyed Ensign Wasp in Hawaii
A Blue-eyed Ensign Wasp in Hawaii

I see these wasps quite often, flitting about, with the little black abdominal part on the stalk vibrating noticeably. However, it wasn’t until recently that I identified them.

This is a Blue-eyed Ensign Wasp (Evania appendigaster) and it’s considered a beneficial insect because it’s a parasitoid, which lays it’s eggs in the eggs of cockroaches. The wasp’s offspring feed off the cockroach eggs, which results in a few less cockroaches in the neighborhood.

Alas, we do not appear to be running out of cockroaches, or seem likely to do so in the immediate future.

The Numbers Game #41

A small plane flies low over Upolu Airport, Hawaii.
A fly-in at Upolu Airport.

The idea of The Numbers Game is to enter a number into the search bar of your computer and then post a selection of the photos that turn up. This week’s number is 162. Captions are on the photos. You can see more responses here.

A praying mantis and a fly
A fly on a praying mantis.
Street art in Hawi, Hawaii
Street art in Hawi.
A red-crested cardinal
A Red-crested Cardinal.
A dry cow pasture in North Kohala, Hawaii
Dry pasture at Upolu.
Irrigation in North Kohala, Hawaii
Irrigation for dry pastures.
A cow and her new calf
A cow with her newborn calf.

A square deal for bugs

A Seven-spotted ladybug on a leaf in Hawaii
A Seven-spotted Lady Beetle pauses on a leaf.

This week’s Sunday Stills challenge theme is ‘All about bugs.’ See more responses here.

Also posted for Becky’s Squares: Seven. See more responses here.

Ants and aphids on a crown flower leaf in Hawaii
Ants farming aphids on a Hawaiian Crown Flower leaf.
A Black Soldier Fly in Hawaii
A Black Soldier Fly on a window.
A Bee on tree heliotrope flower in Hawaii
A bee on Tree Heliotrope flowers

The bugs in the next gallery were all on the same Monstera leaf, which had accumulated falling flowers from a palm tree.

A Fly in Hawaii
A Scholastes bimaculatus fly rummaging in the flowers.
A Banana Stalk Fly in Hawaii
A Banana Stalk Fly with a smaller fly.
A Black Earwig on palm tree flowers in Hawaii
A Black Earwig hunts through the flowers.

The Numbers Game #24

The lava lake in Halema’uma’u Crater in April 2018. Two weeks later the lake had dropped 1,000 feet. Yesterday, Kilauea erupted again, but for just 12 hours before it was declared paused!

The idea of The Numbers Game is to enter a number into the search bar of your computer and then post a selection of the photos that turn up. This week’s number is 145. Captions are on the photos. You can see more responses here.

Two orange feral cats.
A gnat cloud at Upolu.
A grasshopper on a kiawe branch in Hawaii
A grasshopper on a Kiawe branch. Watch out for those thorns!
Mushrooms make a shady rest area for bugs!
A leaf cutter bee on Aptenia cordifolia.
An Hawaii ‘elepaio (Chasiempis sandwichensis sandwichensis).

Moving forward sideways

A Pallid Ghost Crab on the sand in Hawaii
On the lookout.

I was walking the beach at Pelekane Bay one morning, when I realized there was a lot of movement on the sand. A bit of quiet observation revealed crabs everywhere. They skittered back and forth, but if I moved, they zipped back to the edge of their holes or disappeared into them.

A Pallid Ghost Crab on the sand in Hawaii
Ready to disappear below in an instant.
A Pallid Ghost Crab on the sand in Hawaii
How do I get this down my burrow?
A Pallid Ghost Crab on the sand in Hawaii
Yes, there’s a crab in this photo, obviously!

I picked a spot where I could observe a good number of them and spent about 40 minutes there, kneeling in the sand, moving minimally, while the crabs went about their work. The ones in these photos are Pallid Ghost Crabs.

A Pallid Ghost Crab on the sand in Hawaii
Pallid ghost crabs leave sand balls outside …
A Pallid Ghost Crab on the sand in Hawaii
… when excavating their burrows.

Posted for Becky’s Squares: Move Forward, Reconstruct, Renew, and/or are Burgeoning. See more responses here.