Tales of the Heliosphere

From In The Macroverse

This spider worked non-stop for about 20 minutes wrapping a bee that had gotten stuck in its web. Once the bee was completely encased in webbing, the spider dragged it into the bottlebrush tree for dining later.

From In The Macroverse

Meanwhile, in a nearby web off-camera another bee struggled for the duration and escaped. There is no mercy or justice in nature. Only survival or death contingent on circumstances.

To see more photos of the bee wrapping the spider sequence, click the links above, which take you to the In The Macroverse album at picasaweb.google.com/tdavera. Scroll to the end of the album. And thank the gods you're at the top of the food chain. So say we all!

-tdr

Labels: Insects, Nature, Photography

Saturday night, SyFy Channel showed Kyle Rankin's (no relation, darn the luck) new monster-bug movie, Infestation. (Here.) The movie has a lot of fun playing with monster, zombie, and alien invasion movie conventions. But it's far from being an exploitation of science fiction genres. There's good writing with real-live character development and good direction. The movie is also blessed by the lead acting of Chris Marquette and the supporting role played by Ray Wise, as Marquette's dad.

Infestation takes place in the first days after animal-sized bugs have conquered the world. All humans had been instantaneously knocked unconscious only to awaken some days later wrapped in webbing. Marquette's character is part of a small band of humans who try to survive and decide to launch an attack on the bugs' nest, to rescue the girl and blow up the queen.

The plot will probably surprise nobody but the writing might; for instance, when Rankin has Marquette's character talk disappointingly of having fantasized that the end of the world would come some day leaving him and his own beautiful Eve to repopulate the Earth. The reality is not exactly what he'd imagined.

When SyFy shows the movie again, as they no doubt will, give it a look.

-tdr

Labels: Insects, Movies, Science Fiction

While some of us spent Sunday morning relaxing in the yard, at the insect level it was just another day of working to survive. Here's a pollen-laden bee hovering among the branches of a San Diego Sunflower. This fierce-looking spider sits on another San Diego Sunflower bush nearby. Click the photo for a closeup of the spider's face. Its fu manchu mustache-like markings alone are worth the look.
I have no idea what this flying insect is or the flower it's resting on but they're both strikingly beautiful. The flower's beauty is obvious to the naked eye. The insect is so small that to the naked eye it appears to be nothing much. Only under magnification is its beauty revealed to the human eye. Do other insects notice? Who can say? As far as we know, the aesthetics of a thing is appreciated only by human beings. These creatures live lives of unobserved grace and beauty.

To see more, go to my photos page at picasaweb.google.com/tdavera/InTheMacroverse and scroll to the end for the most recent additions. (Here.)

-tdr

Update: The flower in the bottom photo is a Tidy Tips and the insect is a hover fly.

Labels: Insects, Macrophotos, Nature, Photography

Most native plants in the backyard are thriving. A sage is under attack and not doing too well. These scary little insects are having a feast.

What the hell are these things? And better yet, how can they be killed?

-tdr

For more macro-photography of the natural world visit the photo web page at picasaweb.google.com/tdavera. (Here.)

Labels: Insects, Macrophotos

I did my part to help stimulate the economy this weekend. I bought an expensive new macro lens for the Canon Rebel: a Canon EF 100mm f/2.8 macro. I dived in this morning and took some shots in the backyard. I need to read the manual. I wasted a lot of shots to get these and these are cropped versions of the originals.




-tdr

Labels: Gardening, Insects, Photography

Life hangs on and does what it can to survive. There have been a lot of spiders this Fall. This web in the front lawn is outlined by the morning dew about a month ago. The lawn is gone so the spider will have to find something else to build on. This snail used to drink from the bird bath every day. Today, I went to water the plants in the back yard. This praying mantis was resting on the wand and refused to give up its spot. It remained on the wand the entire time I watered. It got so complacent it took to grooming itself. Isn't that cuuute!? -tdr

Labels: Animals, Environment, Insects, Nature, Photography

So, it's not just birds that live on my property. Bugs make their home here, too. Some pretty and some not so much. This mama spider has set up her maternity ward in the electrical box. Here's a fly sunning itself on the bottle brush tree. It was a hot weekend. Here's one posing for its closeup.It's not all ugly or scary. Here's a pretty ladybug on a rosebush.When dusk rolled around the flying beasties swarmed the bottle brush tree. Nice wings on this one.
-tdr

Labels: Animals, Insects, Nature, Photography