Spiders lurking in the garden

Been hunting out spiders and webs in recent weeks. Finding some neat ones lurking about. They seem to really love spinning webs between flower stems and the fence.

Spider on sunflower leaf

Spider and web

Another view of spider on sunflower leaf

Spider in the grass (this one was not taken at home)

Cicadas in Northern Virginia

We had a surprise last month when we had an unexpected swarm of cicadas. Usually, we'll hear some every year to some extent but these came in the masses. This particular brood was not expected in Virginia but in other states, so it gave me the first opportunity be able to take some macro shots while they were still alive. Kind of an icky, yet intriguing critter to get close to! Fascinating I find them.

Macro on Monday: Feeling nutty!

A couple of weeks ago we visited Montpelier, the home of the 4th U.S. President, James Madison. This was our second time to visit Montpelier and we decided to take a stroll through the historic woods that remain a part of the property. Along the way I took several shots and this nut, for whatever reason, stood out to me.

Hello little ladybug(s)!

Ladybugs are one little critter that is kind of elusive to me. My photos of them typically come out too blurry (I don't photograph movement very well and these buggers can be pretty quick once they are on the move). Every so often, however, I do get a somewhat decent shot.

I'm not even sure where I took this one, it was sometime during 2016. She almost seemed like she was posing for the pic.

I call this one peek-a-boo ladybug. On the move and I seemed to get more detail of the grass blades and water drops than I did of the ladybug, but I'll take it!

This photo was taken on a sidewalk somewhere

The wonderful world of bugs

I always find it fascinating to watch insects as they go about their daily routines. (Unless they are in my house of course then, depending on the bug, all bets are off!). When we are outside, bugs typically catch my eye and sometimes I like to follow them around a bit to see what they'll do next. These are some shots from warmer days gone by.

This (wasp?) was busy in my wildflower garden last summer and seemed particularly interested in my black-eyed Susans

I followed this ant for quite a while when walking along a path in the Manassas Battlefield last year. The ant is a little harder to see in the photo because it is dragging such a large carcass of another insect. The strength ants possess is pretty amazing!

Spotted this one a few minutes after seeing the ant. I don't know if it was my eyes playing tricks on me or not, but this one seemed to change color every time it flew and landed. Mostly bright greens and blues (which you can kind of see in the photo a two-tone appearance), but I swear I saw a greyish color too.

Milkweed bug party at Leigh's yard! Taken last summer.

 

Snapping pics of milkweed in Shenandoah National Park

There is an abundance of milkweed in the Shenandoah National Park. In the summer it attracts beautiful bugs and butterflies. In the fall, the milkweed starts to go to seed. 

While there are still some bugs and caterpillars around, as the cooler temps come in, there is a lot less activity than there was in the summer. While the milkweed turns brown and dries out, I find it to be so beautiful.

Related posts:

Chasing butterflies on Skyline Drive (part 1)
Chasing butterflies on Skyline Drive (part 2)

Dandelion macros: Before and after the seed

In recent years I've been looking at dandelions a lot differently than I used to. Often considered a weed, when looking at them from another perspective I think they are rather pretty. 

I attempted to take some dandelion macro shots in my yard recently. These are the results.

[ Related photos: Watching dandelions go to seed ]

Memories of summer: Flowering plants

Last spring and summer we decided to invest in the yard a bit, planting flowers throughout and also a few potted plants. Here photos of two we placed our doorstep - the name of the plant(s) escapes me but I believe it began with a "d".

In photos: Busy summertime bees - part 2

Yesterday I blogged about bees. Today is part two of that post. Last year we put in a lot of flowers and attracted many bees. These are some of the moments captured.

We planted milkweed to attract the monarchs, very few butterflies in 2015, but many bees came to visit

Bees also liked to linger in the wildflower garden

In photos: Busy summertime bees - part 1

Ever since I was a kid I had this fear of bees and would run in the other direction when I came across any (the fact I was swarmed twice in my hair probably didn't help). Over the years as I began to look towards nature as photography subjects, that fear has dissipated. For some reason being on the other end of a lens erased the fear. These days I can peacefully be next to bees even without a camera.

We invested a lot of energy into putting flowers and vegetables in our yard last year. As a result, we had many bees. It was nice to see them in such volume and hopefully their numbers will grow. Here are a few photos I captured last summer in my front yard. (Here is Part 2)

In photos: Going to seed

In December we took a trip out to Front Royal, Va. to visit Skyline Caverns. The weather was pretty warm over the Christmas break and it seemed many of the plants and flowers were confused on what they should be doing (it was 77 degrees here in Northern Virginia on Christmas Eve!)

The following week I came across these plants that had gone to seed, albeit probably a little later than they usually would have. I'm not sure what kind of plants either of these are. The second set looked a little like milkweed, but the plant looked different than the one I have in my yard. Decided the seeds were a good subject to try to further work on creating macro images.
 

Birds spotted at Christ Church in Old Town Alexandria

Last weekend we were wandering around Old Town Alexandria before. While we were walking on the grounds of Christ Church, I spotted these birds very high up in a tree. I'd just gotten a new camera and, after taken this shot, I found the zoom is much better than it was my last point and shoot.

The first shot is the original focus and zoom (no edits), the second shot is a cropped version of the same photo where I could see the details of the bird. Loving my new camera! My old one never would have "found" the birds that high up in any tree, nevermind any details. 

In photos: Fallen leaves past their peak

Yesterday I posted photos of fall foliage spotted here in Northern Virginia, so today I wanted to post images of leaves past their peak. While no longer brilliant in color, there is still beauty to be found as nature begins to settle in for the winter.

Frosty leaves

I thought this leaf had beautiful shape and texture

Macro shot of a dried up leaf. I was so intrigued by its details

A few oversized leaves must have blown in from elsewhere, it was so much larger than the others in my yard

Curled up leaf going to bed for the winter

I'm not sure what kind of flower this is, but I planted it about a year or two ago. This is what it looks like after it settles down for the season, in the summer it was a bluish-purple

In photos: Busy buzzing bee in my garden

As I pulled up into my driveway today it was extremely hot, all I wanted to do was run inside and cool off...however, I quickly forgot about all that after I noticed this buzzing bee in my garden.

About two weeks ago we cleared out an overgrown area in our yard and planted some flowers (mostly perennials - I'm low maintenance that way!) On the way into the house, I glanced over to admire the plants as I like to do and noticed a bee.  I ran inside to grab my trusty Sony Cybershot and took a few pics.

The bee was a bit distracted by my photo taking and kept buzzing on and off this same flower, even though there were many other flowers of this type and more.  I guess I interrupted its work and this bee wanted to get the job done.

Although, for the most part, this bee was a pretty good sport!

I'm not sure why this one uploaded sideways!

Same angle as above but zoomed out a bit. Also uploaded to Blogger sideways!

Cropping in to see what I could see

Hailstorm in Northern Virginia

I've been living in the area a while now and occasionally we'll get some hail, but not usually the big pieces of ice you might see in the Midwest states (and this is probably small in comparison). Last week we had a storm blow in and by the looks of the clouds, it was ugly. Was out walking at the time, so raced home and made it just in time.

The wind was blowing pretty hard so didn't get too many shots of the hail, but here are a few that I was able to get.