Images

Periodically, I take pictures of things other than bees that cross my path. Here, is a small beetle, collected a few weeks ago at Eastern Neck National Wildlife Refuge. Its very small, taken at 10X and that's about all I can tell you other than it likely was collected on flowers along with bees.

Unknown Beetle (Scarabidae?) from Fossil Butte National Monument, Wyoming, photographed in hand sanitizer in a quartz cuvette

More clean up of the Bee Lab's picture files.Is this an alien? Or is it a beetle. I don't know because it only mentions that it is a beetle from Carroll County, Maryland. Any guesses as to genus/species? Picture taken by Wayne Boo.

Unknown Cerambycid beetle, from Laurel Maryland collected in June by Francisco Posada

More clean up of the Bee Lab's picture files.Is this an alien? Or is it a beetle. I don't know because it only mentions that it is a beetle from Carroll County, Maryland. Any guesses as to genus/species? Picture taken by Wayne Boo.

Unknown Cerambycid beetle, from Laurel Maryland collected in June by Francisco Posada

Unknown Cerambycid beetle, from Laurel Maryland collected in June by Francisco Posada

You probably have this problem. You get a specimen in, but it covered in gunk and its hairs are all matted. What do you do? Well, I think we have finally figured it out. Here is a specimen of Bombus rufocinctus caught by the state of Pennsylvania in some kind of dry trap, covered in moth scales and gook. Then, it gets a new look at the USGS BEEauty salon.

This is a tachinid fly in the genus Belvosia. I caught while bee hunting and used it in this particular picture to test out a new 10X picture rig I have set up at home. Nice enough, but think I need to play around with the lighting to extract a little more contrast and 3 dimensionality.

Beggar's-Ticks of the Nodding variety. Showy, and, at times, filling ditches in low areas of Maryland. One of the native plants that seems to be happy with disturbed environments and they come with barbed seeds that stick to the coats of animals and the coats of people with equal vigor. Lots of yellow in the fall...beautiful.

Beggar's-Ticks of the Nodding variety. Showy, and, at times, filling ditches in low areas of Maryland. One of the native plants that seems to be happy with disturbed environments and they come with barbed seeds that stick to the coats of animals and the coats of people with equal vigor. Lots of yellow in the fall...beautiful.

Here is a lovely black and red seed. Photographed on the cut tip of a pin. Sadly, I do not have a record of the seed's name, so any help with this distinct specimen would be appreciated. This seed came from a 100 year old collection of seeds used as reference by the old Bureau of Biological Survey.

Agrotis ipsilon - Black Cutworm - Another major crop pest. This species moves into northern parts of North America after overwintering in Texas and Mexico and then pulls off a couple of generations in weedy fields and particularly impacting newly planted corn. Yet another pest that looks rather beautiful when viewed up close.

Agrotis ipsilon - Black Cutworm - Another major crop pest. This species moves into northern parts of North America after overwintering in Texas and Mexico and then pulls off a couple of generations in weedy fields and particularly impacting newly planted corn. Yet another pest that looks rather beautiful when viewed up close.

Agrotis ipsilon - Black Cutworm - Another major crop pest. This species moves into northern parts of North America after overwintering in Texas and Mexico and then pulls off a couple of generations in weedy fields and particularly impacting newly planted corn. Yet another pest that looks rather beautiful when viewed up close.

Agrotis ipsilon - Black Cutworm - Another major crop pest. This species moves into northern parts of North America after overwintering in Texas and Mexico and then pulls off a couple of generations in weedy fields and particularly impacting newly planted corn. Yet another pest that looks rather beautiful when viewed up close.

Agrotis ipsilon - Black Cutworm - Another major crop pest. This species moves into northern parts of North America after overwintering in Texas and Mexico and then pulls off a couple of generations in weedy fields and particularly impacting newly planted corn. Yet another pest that looks rather beautiful when viewed up close.

Agrotis ipsilon - Black Cutworm - Another major crop pest. This species moves into northern parts of North America after overwintering in Texas and Mexico and then pulls off a couple of generations in weedy fields and particularly impacting newly planted corn. Yet another pest that looks rather beautiful when viewed up close.

Agrotis ipsilon - Black Cutworm - Another major crop pest. This species moves into northern parts of North America after overwintering in Texas and Mexico and then pulls off a couple of generations in weedy fields and particularly impacting newly planted corn. Yet another pest that looks rather beautiful when viewed up close.

Black-throated blue warbler, female, collided with a building in Washington D.C. , experimental photo of a stack of 16 pictures....feather detail came out very well, but thumb is pixilly....hard to hold that still that long

Birds regularly collide with buildings. In many instances building collisions can be decreased by turning lights off at night and using non-reflective glass. Sadly both these measures rarely happen. In major cities groups pick up birds that have struck buildings, here is a set of "blue" birds that hit buildings in Downtown Washington D.C.