Field Guide – Linda & Robert Scarth

Yesterday we attended the 5th Annual Day of Insects at Reiman Gardens in Ames, IA. This yearly gathering of bug enthusiasts, researchers and naturalists is one of short topical presentations, long breaks for visiting and a bit of time to enjoy the Butterfly Wing and indoor gardens.

With only a small point and press camera in a pocket and little time to wait for the perfect butterfly, we did not photograph much. These sat still several times.  Both are longwings. The one above is probably a Doris Longwing (Heleconius doris). They are long lived for a butterfly so are popular in tropical butterfly exhibits. Longwings are found in Central and South America.

This one is probably a Sara Longwing (Heliconius sara). Longwing butterfly species have many similar wing patterns and colors.

The 15 presentations were as diverse as nature itself. From tiny parasites on wasps to government regulations on agricultural pests, the discovery of an Ozark dragonfly species  on a northern Iowa river to changing fire management strategies, citizen scientists monitoring water insects to assess streams to observing the lives and companions of digger bees under a porch, there was much to learn. We also enjoyed the insights and images of several photographers.

The most important concept presented was the idea that climate change is a meta-disturbance. As weather patterns change the disturbances are greater and more complex than often realized. The disturbance becomes a long term environmental influence rather than a passing event.

One of the summer pleasures in southern Africa is the return of the Southern Carmine Bee-eaters (Merops nubicus nubicoides). We were as entranced by their beauty, as are most visitors to the Okavango Delta in Botswana at this time of year.

Photographing them was one of the many firsts of this trip. We encountered these sharing the feast of a termite nuptual flight with several swallow species, Fish Eagles and other birds. We will do a later post about the Fish Eagles catching termites on the ground. The rest were lacing the air with a mesh of wings as they captured the termites in flight.

There are two sub-species of Carmine Bee-eaters separated by a thousand kilometers. The Northern species has a greenish-blue throat like the top of the head. The Southern species’ throat is pink. They have similar three stage migrations in north-central and southern Africa. One area is for breeding and two other areas for winter and summer.

The bird above is a very handsome adult who has just raised its feathers at another bee-eater that also wanted this prime vantage point from which to hunt. It’s indignation is apparent in every defined feather.

Below is a mature adult and an immature. Sometimes adults would feed the younger birds who seemed just as adept at snatching termites from the air as their elders.

As well a lovely colors, autumn leaves sometimes have other characteristics. One is the appearance of galls or growths made of the leaf tissue. Oak trees may have galls of many shapes that are the homes of tiny wasp larva. Hackberry and neighboring trees are sometimes home to a very tiny insect – the Hackberry Psyllid. Their larva live in galls that are called Hackberry Nipples.

We found this example while on a walk in a nearby state park on Sunday afternoon. It seemed a good example to discuss. Hackberry Psyllids are tiny flying insects shaped somewhat like cicadas. They can get through screens and are often called knats, flies or even fleas. This gall had a pin hole in the top so the adult had emerged recently. It will overwinter in tree bark or other crevices and the females will pierce new leaves and lay their eggs in the spring. This single generation will emerge in the fall.

The leaf was on the ground among the multitudes of fallen leaves. It needed to be placed to show the gall’s shape and location and the leaf’s texture. A nearby rotting stump provided the platform and some contrasting color and texture. The aim, as with all documentary photography, is to show off the subject in a satisfying composition. If we were to repeat the image we might decrease the background focus and move a bit to the right to reduce the dark area in the upper right.

All photos need to be studied to learn what make them more informative, more compelling, and/or more attractive, as the case may be.

Last evening Bob found this pair of mating Differential Grasshoppers (Melanoplus differentialis). He caught them in a large plastic jar and brought them in for our tabletop photo setup. Linda had first go at photographing them. We decided to use a white background to emphasize the intricate pattern of their exoskeleton plates and leg chevrons. The row of black spikes seen here on the males yellow legs are also identifying features.

Well, they did not want to get out of, and then off of, the jar on to the white background. As well as the color, they did not seem to like the feel when they touched it. We sometimes use sheets of craft foam as backgrounds when we need a non-reflective even color. The texture was unfamiliar to the grasshoppers who live on and near foliage. There was no camouflage close by so they stayed still for several minutes. Craft foam is readily available in arts and crafts stores.

The female was very large - over the 2 inches stated in published descriptions. Her abdomen was engorged. In this image her palps below her mandibles (mouth) are visible. Palps help control food items. The male’s wings extended beyond his rear end while the female’s did not. Differential Grasshoppers are considered pests in agricultural and horticultural environments. The growing nymphs have voracious appetites.

Our current tabletop photo arrangement includes a pvc pipe frame with a white nylon covering along the top and down the two sides. The back side is open allowing for ease in changing backgrounds. Lighting is a group of flexible stand lamps with Eiko 5000K fluorescent photo bulbs. Like all tabletop photographers we keep a collection of boxes and stands to help protect, control and position our small subjects.

We keep a 180mm macro lens on a tripod next to the setup table. That way whichever camera body one of us brings up just needs to be attached and is ready to go. This lens has some collar issues that are a problem in the field but not in here, so it is enjoying a less rigorous but very useful life indoors. A cable shutter release hangs on the tripod and is ready to attach in case one is forgotten in the camera bag downstairs.

When the grasshoppers had had enough they took off bouncing around the room and needed to be returned to their jar.

While grocery shopping the other evening, we stopped at the farmer’s market in one of the city parks for fresh corn. A quick tour of the adjacent colorful garden was mostly quiet except one garden bed of salvia in several colors, heights, blossom shapes and densities. This bed had dozens on skippers nectaring, mostly on the lavendar and purple salvia cultivars. So we headed back the next day with our gear hoping to make a few images if the skippers stayed on blooms long enough to focus and press the shutter release.

Well, the skippers, except for two, must have moved on. The salvia was occupied by several bee and bee mimic species. The giant bumble bees were resting or moving slowly from bloom to bloom so composition and image capture was more deliberative than it can often be when photographing insects. These were at least 4 cm. (1 1/2 inches) long.

Bumble bees (Bombus sp.) sometimes have distinctive patterns that assist in determining the species. We think these are probably Bombus fraternus because the yellow fur was short and the pattern similar to ID images we found. There are several large bumble bee species that are similar and because there are variations within colony members (queens, drones, workers), expert identification is often necessary.

Bumble bees are among our favorite bees because they are remarkably cooperative subjects and not easily riled. Sometimes it is fun to pet them, either with a finger or soft piece of grass. They frequently will continue grazing while raising a hind leg to scratch the air, much like a dog will when rubbed or petted.

This morning the message from The Writer’s Almanac included a poem by Maxine Kumin titled “In the Moment.” Written imagery can be as wonderful as visual imagery. The poem is replete with engaging mind pictures. There is one line that flew off the screen to deliver a memorable idea:  “… live in the moment, pursuing that brilliant dragonfly called pleasure.”

That sent us to look at some of our dragonfly images. There is much pleasure in photographing dragonflies. To see the metaphor of equating these fierce hunters with pleasure, speaks of the persistence needed in hunting and photographing dragonflies and the pleasurable reward when one makes a good image.

This Widow Skimmer (Libellula luctuosa) is probably a female. Immature males and females lack the white bands of handsome mature males with their whitish powdered abdomens (pruniosity). She does not appear to have claspers at the rear end which would be there in a male. The brilliant golden yellow streaks down her sides are like little stacks of gold bricks.

Though the poet was describing dogs, we photographers can benefit by living in the moment, especially when enjoying the pleasure of pursuing a dragonfly.

Several weeks ago while in the northwoods of Minnesota, we were looking for interesting bark abstracts on the trees next to our camp site. The caterpillar subject of this post was not really noticable until one was within two feet of the tree. We think the tree was a balsam poplar. The caterpillar is still a mystery even after exploring our field guides, BugGuide and other insect sites online.

The top view shows its bristles and tufts more densely than does the partial side view below. The tufts are similar to some of the buck moths but the colors and density are different than photos we have found. The tufts along the side looked a bit like some of the feathering of tube worms in a coral reef. The pale gray bristly clusters are also like some ray flowers with a dark stamen protruding. Nature certainly likes to repeat its patterns and designs across species.

Sometimes things get a bit crowded when there are two photographers with macro lenses and sturdy tripods next to a tree with a 2 1/2 inch ( 6 cm) subject.

An observation that puzzled us is the color difference in the bark in the final jpg images. We used the same camera bodies in AV mode with auto white balance with different macro lenses – 100mm and 180mm. The other differences in capture were is ISO, aperture, shutter speed, and angle of view (light angle and amount). Similar Lightroom 4.1 ACR (Adobe Camera Raw) adjustments were made before final editing in Photoshop CS5.

The end results in the jpgs here are differences in warmth that traveled through the process. The original histograms differed with the warmer image more center weighted and the lower image left weighted. Then we realized that the warmer image with the center weighted histogram was made with a ring flash set to fill. The fill flash must have modified the file to make it warmer in spite of the similarity in processing of both images. Color is always influenced by the conditions.

The remaining puzzle is the species. Back to searching.

Many different insects come to a moth light set-up. Among the tiny critters that appeared at Jim Durbin’s moth lighting demonstration the other night were leafhoppers. Leafhoppers are sometimes the drabbest and at other times, the most colorful of the tiny insects. There were several lime green ones with red eyes and reticulated patterns seemingly stenciled on their wings.

We used BugGuide and other sources to determine the species is probably: Rugosana manua. Some people called it Gyponana (rugosana) manua.

After seeing the top one in pristine condition, the next one was not. Its wings are a bit worn and the pattern fading. The image was kept because of the much tinier speciman at the upper left. It has red eyes and a very faint pattern and is probably a much younger version of the same species. The adults are about 3/8 inch (10 mm) long, which makes the little one less than 1/8 inch (3 mm). 

Looking closely at the world is easier with the output of a digital camera and macro lens. There is something magical about the tiny members of our world.

The tiny red insects that hatched from the copper colored eggs last week have grown. They are now very dark and seem to have more bristles. Their eyes are still red. Their legs look like striped tights, alternating light gray and black. The ends of their antenna seem to have small tear-shaped balloons that they occasionally puff up. The one on the right down below has one of the balloons partially inflated. Minus their antenna, they are about 4 mm long (about 3/16 inch).

We still have not figured out what they are. They are now in a bigger jar with more of the vegetation on which the eggs were found. Perhaps if we put up an image on BugGuide, someone may have a suggestion. In the mean time, we hope to have them around to photograph several more times.

June 27 Addendum: A friend identified these as probably Helmeted Squash Bug nymphs. He also had photographed some recently.

We have found tiny copper colored insect eggs in the past. Today we got to see some hatch. Last year we did a post about some tiny red kidney-shaped eggs and the little Box Elder Bugs that hatched. We do not know what these are. Hope to keep them long enough to find out.

The tiny insects start to darken very soon after hatching. These two prodded and poked at one another for a few seconds and then started checking out the rest of the leaf. The darker one had explored a bit and then came back to the eggs where it encountered the freshly hatched red one.

This single insect provides a clearer view as it was darkening. The very long antenna are also beginning to be visible (top image) as the eggs were hatching. They were the first parts to emerge from the eggs.

A ring-flash set a 1:2 ratio brought out more detail on this very tiny, very bristly insect in the bottom image. The top two images were made in our light tent with photographic daylight compact fluorescent bulbs placed to control shadows and modeling on the eggs and insects.

The background is the same out-of-focus vegetation (flowera and leaves) image hung in the back of the light tent. The colors vary because the subject is so tiny and very small camera position changes bring another small section of color into view. The depth of field around the insect is so shallow that the out-of-focus background becomes even more out-of-focus.