The milkweed plants were dirty and dried up, but I knew from past experience that there might be ladybugs crawling around on them. The first two plants that I checked were full of aphids, a favorite food of ladybugs, but I did not see any ladybugs at all. As I approached a third plant, I saw a flash of red and spotted a small ladybug crawling quickly down the stem of the plant. I was not as close as I could have like to have been, but managed to capture some images before the ladybug disappeared from sight.
I like the way that this shot turned out because the reddish-orange of the ladybug really stands out against the blues and greens in the rest of the photos. In case you are curious, the little specks of yellow are aphids. In this case, the aphids were safe, for this ladybug seemed to be in too much of a hurry to stop for a snack.
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.
Mike Powell 
Nice capture, Mike. Good of you to know where to look.
I love this lovely little beetle! Ladybugs have been my favorite since childhood. I remember how in the Fall my Gram’s back sunporch became a home for them. How they got in there, I never knew. Gram loved her “Ladybirds” as she called them and they loved her numerous plants…mayhaps due to aphids! We children always called them Ladybugs. I recall many times over those long ago years watching their eggs hatch and progress to becoming full grown Ladybugs, an amazing process. This photo cheers me greatly! Thank-you, Mr. Mike!
Nice that she slowed enough for you to share her image with us. The bud points or knobs on the milkweed make her color just pop out!