Images

More play with 10X. Here is a small non-muscid fly from my backyard. Tongue architecture is very interesting and lovely in a fly sort of way.

Wyoming, Fossil Butte National Monument. Identification please

Experiment: Ah, what a difference fresh specimens make, having retained their color, and a tweak of the technique, this mosquito larvae expired within 15 minutes or so of its picture being taken.

Experiment: Ah, what a difference fresh specimens make, having retained their color, and a tweak of the technique, this just about ready to emerge mosquito pupae expired within 15 minutes or so of its picture being taken.

Symphyotrichum species, Beltsville, Maryland, Aster, Prince George's County

Galearis spectabilis, the Showy Orchis. As wild orchids go in the East, this one is relatively common. I come across it the most in deciduous Appalachian Mountain woods, but I have seen it in plenty other places where the woods have not been turned under for crops in the past.

Galearis spectabilis, the Showy Orchis. As wild orchids go in the East, this one is relatively common. I come across it the most in deciduous Appalachian Mountain woods, but I have seen it in plenty other places where the woods have not been turned under for crops in the past.

Galearis spectabilis, the Showy Orchis. As wild orchids go in the East, this one is relatively common. I come across it the most in deciduous Appalachian Mountain woods, but I have seen it in plenty other places where the woods have not been turned under for crops in the past.

Lace bug, how exquisite, the patterns and colors of the cells of this tiny bug. The one found on Horsenettle by Ashley Bradford on the Pickering Creek Audubon Sanctuary BioBlitz.

More experiments with USGS minerals. This one is a shot of very tiny 1mm or so garnets crazy glued to an insect pin. Not bad for a first try, but clearly more cleaning is needed to really make these shine. 10x shot with microscope objective on camera.

Gasteruptoin species (thank you John Jennings for the det). Collected a few days ago at Blackwater National Wildlife Refuge, which sits in the marshlands of Dorchester County, Maryland with the habitat being combinations of marsh and loblolly pine. Collected as an incidental to collecting bees on flowers. Photography by Elizabeth Garcia.

Nectar dries quickly in the Atacama Desert of Chile, the driest desert in the world, and so many plants hide their nectar in deep nectaries. Bees visiting these flowers need long tongues and, in some instances, a very long head to reach the nectar.

Nectar dries quickly in the Atacama Desert of Chile, the driest desert in the world, and so many plants hide their nectar in deep nectaries. Bees visiting these flowers need long tongues and, in some instances, a very long head to reach the nectar.

Nectar dries quickly in the Atacama Desert of Chile, the driest desert in the world, and so many plants hide their nectar in deep nectaries. Bees visiting these flowers need long tongues and, in some instances, a very long head to reach the nectar.

Nectar dries quickly in the Atacama Desert of Chile, the driest desert in the world, and so many plants hide their nectar in deep nectaries. Bees visiting these flowers need long tongues and, in some instances, a very long head to reach the nectar.

Foot of Geothlypis trichas, Common Yellowthroat, Stuck the Thurgood Marshall Building, May of 2012 in Washington D.C. in migration

Geothlypis trichas, Common Yellowthroat, Stuck the Thurgood Marshall Building, May of 2012 in Washington D.C. in migration

The Wild Geranium, Geranium maculatum, not your grandmother's house plant, but a wild, native relative. You can see its resemblance. A haunter of bottomlands and an important nectar and pollen source for bees in the spring....including a couple of specialists. Specimen and photograph by Helen Lowe Metzman.

Bees Trained to Collect Gold DustIn the Upper Congo past gold mining's legacy left a moonscape of large and small open pits. Some of these pits date to the turn of the previous century.

Charidotella sexpunctata - One of the many variations of this electric beetle, exquisite in its color, form, and blends of neon all free of charge from your friend: Nature.Upper Marlboro, MarylandCanon Mark II 5D, Zerene Stacker, Stackshot Sled, 65mm Canon MP-E 1-5X macro lens, Twin Macro Flash in Styrofoam Cooler, F5.0, ISO 100, Shutter Speed 200, link to a .p

Rattlesnake Plantain. Oh, look an orchid. An orchid that is not too uncommon in acidy woodlands. What a lovely leaf too. Picture and specimen by Helen Low Metzman.