Insects on a white flower

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Insects on a white flower

November 14, 2012 by Mike Powell

We had a few warm days this past weekend and there were a lot more insects around the still-flowering plants than there had been the week before. I focused a lot of my attention on some white flowers, where bees were active (I may post some bee photos later), but my eyes were especially drawn to a tiny fly with red eyes, clear and black patterned wings and a shaggy-looking body. Despite his diminutive stature, I managed to get a pretty clear shot of him. If you click on the photo, you can even see the hairs on his head. I searched the internet and couldn’t seem to find and identification of my little fly. His wings look a little like a scorpion fly, but the tail is all wrong.

The other photo is a spotted cucumber beetle (Diabrotica undecimpunctata), a photogenic insect whose photo I’ve posted several times already. I especially like the pose of the beetle as he is climbing up the flower. The photo also gives you an idea of the size differential between this beetle and the tiny fly.

Tiny fly on a white flower

Ain’t no mountain high enough…

Posted in Bugs, Flowers, Gardening, Insects, Macro Photography, Nature, Photography | Tagged Canon 100mm macro lens, canon rebel, Diabrotica undecimpunctata, fly, green spring gardens, spotted cucumber beetle, tiny fly | 8 Comments

8 Responses

on November 14, 2012 at 10:34 pm | Reply sketchjay

beautiful!
- on November 15, 2012 at 4:49 am | Reply Mike Powell
  
  Thanks.
on November 15, 2012 at 4:05 pm | Reply naturesnippets

The beetle one would make a good poster. Love the background colors
- on November 15, 2012 at 4:38 pm | Reply Mike Powell
  
  Thanks. I too really like the way the background turned out. Sometimes with macro shots it can be planned and sometimes it just turns out that way.
on November 15, 2012 at 6:15 pm | Reply Norunn Mølsæter

Just love the colours, particulary how the beetle matches the background on the last one. Insects can be very beautiful and fascinating, if you take the time to study them!
- on November 15, 2012 at 10:24 pm | Reply Mike Powell
  
  I definitely agree. The last six months (since I got a little more serious about photography), I’ve watched insects a lot and learned a lot about them.
on November 30, 2012 at 1:43 pm | Reply Marco Pesaresi

Like mentioned Mike I really love the colours in the first shot with the fly, they are simply stunning, two beautiful images.
- on November 30, 2012 at 2:37 pm | Reply Mike Powell
  
  Thanks for your kind words. My friend (a professional) started me out shooting macro shots and I ventured away for awhile. It was nice to return to the macro shooting again–it reminded me of the beauty of shooting close-up images of things we often don’t see.