Day 43: Cannibal Ants

Jen and I were on our way to bring water to the kids, who were playing outside at Camp, when I came upon this sight. I was totally transfixed, as was Jen. I was so happy to have company while I observed the tiny insects because usually no one else cares. Jen is a science teacher so I think maybe that is why she took more of an interest.

We watched these guys for 15 minutes or so - there were two pairs of ants. In each pair there was an aggressor and a victim. The aggressor was tearing the shit out of the victim. For what reason, I have no idea. I don't even know what kind of ants these were. They'd fight for a while and then the meanie would go off and lick his chops for a bit, then come back for some more brutality. We were totally enraptured by this and couldn't figure out what was going on. I told Jen, "See, if we were somewhere with the internet, I'd be all over this." So now that we're back home I think I should go try to figure out what was happening here.

In the meantime, if you know anything about ants and why they might commit such an act against one another, please enlighten me!

Day 42: Red Lady

This little lady was spotted along the old railroad bed up at Camp last weekend. I don't know much about ladybugs...like for instance, are they really all 'ladies'? And there are a bunch of tiny creepy crawlies on the plant next to her (seen on the left in this photo). Are those perhaps ladybug nymphs? I have no idea. Also, is the saying about the number of spots they have true?

Taking photos of things in nature like this inspires me to learn more about them. So off I go to read about ladybugs.

Day 41: Inch Worm

While we were picking blueberries in the woods, Jen found this little guy and pointed out the eggs on the back of him - I guess I should say her? I don't really know much about the reproduction of inchworms. Look how cool that is! He/she was kind enough to stand still for me so I could get this nice photo. I just had my regular lens on so I couldn't get in as closely as I wanted, but it looks pretty good up against the dark polo shirt Jen was wearing.

Day 40: Damsel in Distress

So we went to Camp again for an extended weekend . This time our dear friends, Jen and Dan, and their two boys came with us. It's always more fun when we have company. I ended up taking more pictures of the kids and all the playing around, than I did of the bugs this time, but I couldn't resist this photo. It's a damselfly caught in a spider's web and the spider is getting ready to chow down. It's not that I like looking at dead bugs about to have their guts eaten out, it's just so fascinating that I can't look away - like a gory accident on the side of the road - until I at least get a picture. For this angle I actually had to get into the bottom of the row boat and get my face real close. I should get bonus points for that. Though I love this photo, my main reason for posting it is because I couldn't wait to use the perfect title I came up with!

Day 35: Yellow Fellow

I took this photo back in the spring out at 'The Farm', which is what my mother has taken to calling the land where they're planning to build a house. I was taking bluebird pictures that day, and this little guy, an American Goldfinch, was flying around too. This yellow fellow was easier to get close to on account of the fact that he didn't have any young ones back at the nest like the bluebirds did. I got some really good bluebird pictures that day, but I think this bird is just so beautiful.

Day 24: Lunch on a Leaf

Here's another damselfly. I took this photo at 'the farm', which is to say, the large expanse of land my mom and Jamie have yet to build on. A lot of activity goes on out there, just no house activity yet. This year we've put in a good sized garden with them, making it officially a farm, or something to that effect.

We were out there a couple days ago watering the vegetable garden and I spotted this guy chowing down on a moth. While the part of me was fascinated by this brutal act of nature, the better part of me wanted to toss my cookies watching the moth struggle to escape his fate of being eaten alive. I kept snapping pictures, in the name of art, until they flew away and now I have all kinds of questions about damselfly behavior and diet.

Day 20: Damselfly

I put the macro lens on the camera and went out last Saturday to see what I could see around the grounds at Camp. My main purpose was to get one of these little guys, the Damselfly, but they are so darn quick. A quick look over at wikipedia tells me that they can't walk, only land, fly and land again. I find the to be a very interesting little fact. I know that dragonflies and the like are a favorite of many people, and I have to admit that they are beautiful in all their detail, but for some reason, the damselflies and dragonflies just creep me out. They're so alien looking or something.