Celebrating Bugs!

Sometimes bugs can be annoying…but they are often intriguing to watch.

Sometimes they are relatively still. Maybe it is a little cool or they are waiting for prey.

The bugs that are loving my zucchini plants way too much are annoying but have a certain beauty as they proliferate and march over the leaves. Note the size variation in this group!

Some bugs are noticeable by the way they move. Water striders sit quietly on the top of the water…only noticed when they suddenly move.

The pollinators are busy on the flowers.

Some bugs are busy creating the next generation.

Spiders are easily disturbed. This one scurried up one of the securing silks of his web to the pipe when I got a little to close trying to take his picture!

The cicada was a little confused. It was on the ground and allowed itself to be gently picked up….eventually flying backup into the trees.

Bees

There seems to be a bumblebee that enjoys hovering outside the window I prefer to settle into for reading. There are not any flowers more than a story off the ground so the hovering does not last long but I’m surprised at the number of times there is a bee there.

Today I am celebrating bees photographed this spring: on snapdragons at Longwood gardens,

On wisteria at Brookside Gardens, and

On honey suckle at Watkins Glen State Park.

While I was looking for bee pictures in my recent photographs I found a picture of a small wasp on maple flowers from back in April  (this was photographed with the 8x loupe…on a cold day when the wasp was not very active). It doesn’t belong in a ‘bee’ post but I couldn’t resist including it. I enjoy the serendipity of photographing something like this….and the red color of the maple flowers is one of my favorite signs of spring.