Friday, August 17, 2012

Cool bugs of the Boreal Forest


Mourning Cloak and bees
yellow hornets and goldenrod
I took a tour of the yard with my pocket camera a few days ago and was surprised at all the neat insects.
In the top photo is a tiny hummingbird moth feeding on some wild asters. I've seen larger versions of this creature a couple of times but this one was miniscule, maybe just three-quarters of an inch long. I used the macro function on my camera to snap this shot.
In the second photo are a cluster of bees and a mourning cloak butterfly, all drinking sap from holes drilled into a birch tree by a yellow-bellied sapsucker. There were swarms of bees, or hornets, I couldn't get close enough to see clearly, around this tree. I didn't get a photo of it but there was also a ruby-throat hummingbird zooming around, waiting for a chance to get at the sweet flowing sap.
In the bottom photo are two yellow hornets getting nectar from goldenrod. Hornets have the much deserved reputation for stinging but these ones were docile enough, letting me put my camera a couple of inches away.
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