Piney Woods Church Road 365 Project – Page 20

Day 178: Assassin Bug Portrait

Backyard Nature, Insects, Natural History, Piney Woods Church Road 365 Project No Responses »

Jun 272014

On my way down Piney Woods Church Road this morning, I chanced upon this assassin bug perched on a tulip poplar leaf. We saw each other at about the same time. Every time I moved my camera close for a shot, the bug would slowly back up, then hide himself (herself?) on the other side of an available leaf or stem. The process was so slow that I was reminded of Japanese kabuki theater. I took many, many photos before I secured this crisp portrait. I have to confess that this insect looks almost cuddly, with its furry quality and dangling proboscis. The proboscis functions like a drinking straw; the bug attacks other insects, injecting toxin that dissolves their body cells, which the bug then drinks up. Sometimes appearances can be deceptive, though I still wouldn’t mind having one of these as a Gund.

With help from BugGuide folks on Facebook, I was later able to determine that this bug was most likely the nymph form of the Wheel Bug (Arilus cristatus).

Assassin Bug Portrait

Day 177: Reflections after the Rain

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Jun 262014

On a humid afternoon with occasional rain showers and abundant gray clouds, I took this photograph of a lobolly pine and sky, reflected in the water that had collected on top of an overturned stock tank beside Piney Woods Church Road.

Reflections after the Rain

Day 176: Blue-Striped Leafhopper

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Jun 252014

The flowers are past bloom on the Cleyera, and the shrubs have gone back to their default state of being almost completely devoid of insects of any kind. Late this afternoon, I encountered an exception: a Blue-Striped Leafhopper (Graphocephala versuta) resting on a red Cleyera leaf. The bug was about a quarter inch in length, and it took a lot of patience to get him (or her) into focus. Here is my portrait of this fascinating creature (who seems to be glancing quizzically at the photographer).

Blue-Striped Leafhopper

Day 175: Roadside Damselfly

Backyard Nature, Insects, Natural History, Piney Woods Church Road 365 Project, Sense of Place 2 Responses »

Jun 242014

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.

Ebony Jewelwing

Day 174: Red All About It

Backyard Nature, Geometry and Nature, Native Plants, Piney Woods Church Road 365 Project, Sense of Place 2 Responses »

Jun 232014

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.

Red All about It

Day 173: Morning Dew

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Jun 222014

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.

Morning Dew

Day 172: The Edge of the Wild

Agriculture and Husbandry, Backyard Nature, Golden Hour, Piney Woods Church Road 365 Project, Sense of Place No Responses »

Jun 212014

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 Edge of the Wild

Day 171: Plume Moth

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Jun 202014

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.

Plume Moth