Along Piney Woods Church Road this afternoon I glimpsed a furtive ebony jewelwing (Calopteryx maculata), a broad-winged damselfly typically encountered along woodland streams. After all the rain of late (and more predicted for this evening), this damselfly appears to have taken to wandering. He (or she) would shift perches if I came to close, so this photograph was taken with my zoom lens instead of in macro mode.
Here are two more after-rain photographs from my Piney Woods Church Road explorations this afternoon. The first is a water droplet suspended at the tip of a leaf; the second is another water droplet, contained by a woody grapevine tendril.
I set out along Piney Woods Church Road this afternoon after a downpour. The sky was still partly cloudy, roadside plants still decorated with water droplets. Inevitably, I was drawn to possible water images everywhere. This particular photo captures the brilliant red of a muscadine grapevine, a single droplet suspended from its tendril, a watery mirror in which it is reflected.
Yesterday morning, I took dozens of photographs of insects in motion on a blooming Cleyera along Piney Woods Church Road. This morning, I photographed no insects whatsoever, and took relatively few pictures, for that matter. But among them was this gem: a drop of water clinging to the underside of a Cleyera leaf, reflecting many other leaves. I love gazing into water droplets; they are vessels of stillness and peace, points of tranquility in our daily lives. They are one of the morning’s greatest gifts.
Summer is here at last, and it is party time at the Cleyera on Piney Woods Church Road! Come on out and see what all the buzz is about! The decor is sheik yet seasonal, consisting of Cleyera flowers in bloom,
accompanied by spent blossoms, tastefully arranged amid gossamer spider threads.
The blossoms are a popular hangout for guests. Abundant honeybees are busy pollinating many of the flower heads,
along with bees from the well-respected Family Halictidae, flashing thier gold at passers-by.
Among the more intimidating-looking of the party guests is undoubtedly this Virginia Flowerfly, Milesia virginiensis, which looks a lot like a yellowjacket but does not sting.
On the other end of the spectrum, the Cleyera also caters to much tinier folk, such as this quarter-inch tumbling flower beetle from the Family Mordellidae, possibly Mordella marginata.
Undoubtedly one of the Cleyera’s most dapper customers as summer gets underway is this Longhorned Beetle (Strangalia luteicornis), a well-heeled and elegant specimen of the Family Cerambycidae.
If you visit the Cleyera, it is worth watching out for the occasional riff-raff — unsavory characters such as this two-lined spittlebug (Prosapia bicincta), a common pest of turf grass and ornamentals.
The Cleyera — a great place to party, and get some serious pollinating done — but only while the flowers are blooming.
Along Piney Woods Church Road, a barbed wire fence holds back the surge of pasture grasses; across the line, the grass is meticulously maintained. I love the flow of light through the pasture in the early morning hours.
The Cleyera at the corner is pulsing with activity these days. Most of the visitors are honeybees, but I am finding quite a few other insects, ones previously unfamiliar to me. The key, I have found, is to arrive in the early morning, when the air is still cool and insects aren’t dashing too rapidly about. Even then, it takes quite a few photographs to secure one crisp image of a bee. Fortunately, this particular insect, with about a half-inch wingspan, was quite content with being motionless. In fact, when I first saw it, I thought it might be dead, or a molted exoskeleton of something. This plume moth (Family Pterophoridae) has a fragile, ghostly quality about it — so insubstantial compared with most moths and butterflies I have encountered in the past.
The Cleyera shrub at the end of Piney Woods Church Road was all a-buzz with bees this morning, now that its flowers have opened. Peak bloom is still a day or two away, and so, I suspect, is the peak of bee activity. There were quite a few bees buzzing about, along with a scattering of smaller insects. The bees were quite intent on their task, dashing from flower to flower to perform their necessary tasks, making macro photography difficult. I may return tomorrow morning for another go. Meanwhile, here is a photograph of a bee hard at work.
Fruits are developing on a native persimmon tree (Diospyros virginiana ) shading the roadside along Piney Woods Church Road. Future food for deer, foxes, and possibly even me as well.
I took this photograph of a sassafras leafscape on my my saunter down Piney Woods Church Road this morning.
