More Bugs

Ames, IA (Aug 4, 2013)

Every time I step into my garden with the camera and macro lens I find some new kind of bug that I didn't notice before. Take the butterfly above, for example. I have no idea of her name (I mean the species) and in fact when I saw her from a distance it didn't look like much. But then close up it is quite interesting, almost as airy as a moth, but diurnal as any other butterfly visiting my flowers during the day. Flowers that are still suffering from the japanese invasion, btw (you can see some of the petals all munched up by the green monster that are raiding my garden).

Another bee

I also saw more bees. Felt actually. Yesterday, just before sunset, I was in the garden cleaning up the roses from the japanese beetles (that's what they seem to like most these days). Since they clump by the dozens on single flowers, I found that the best way to get rid of them is to grab the entire infested flowers in my hand, and then unceremoniously dispose of the whole thing. Well I learned that there is a reason why gardeners use gardener's gloves while doing this kind of things: one of the flower was hosting not just beetles but also a nice bee like the one in the photo of the left. Not a honey bee, again, but still a bee with sting and all. Of course she was not happy in finding herself in my closed hand, and she rapidly found a very effective way of persuading me to let her free. Fortunately she didn't left her sting implanted in my fingers. Fortunately for me as the pain didn't last more than 5 minutes, but also for her, since she would have died if her sting had gotten stuck in my finger. Still it wasn't entirely pleasant. Anyway, I guess I learned my lesson: look at your bugs before getting too close.