This is the Eastern Hornet Fly, Spilomyia longicornis, from Kirby Preserve in Clark County yesterday. The Hornet Fly is a species of syrphid fly (Hover Flies and Flower Flies). They are harmless and don't sting or bite.They are great wasp mimics, utilizing coloring as a protection by appearing to be a wasp or bee....something called "Batesian mimicry." Sources state that "some species even go so far as to wave their front legs in front of their face to mimic the jointed antennae of the potter wasps." I think that's what this fellow was doing. Didn't fool me a bit, though.
Our blog is a journal of our nature photography adventures. All of our images are free to download and use for educational use, presentations and personal printing usage. Please make sure to leave our credits intact!
Image Galleries
- Astrophotography
- Auroras
- Birds
- Buck Creek Corridor and Local Scenes
- Buck Creek State Park
- Butterflies
- Caterpillars
- Cedar Bog
- Dragonflies & Damselflies
- Dragonfly Flight Images
- Ducks & Shorebirds
- Eagles
- Flora & Fungi
- Insects
- Landscapes & Weather
- Magee Marsh Warblers
- Mammals
- Moths
- National Trails Nature
- Owls
- Reptiles & Amphibians
- Spiders
- Sunset Silhouette Series
- Terri Norris Photography (Senior Pics, Weddings, Sports, All People Pics)
- Videos
- Yellowstone National Park
Saturday, September 19, 2020
National Trails BioBlast
Thursday and Friday I participated in the BioBlast hosted by National Trail Parks and Recreation "Parks for Pollinators."
The goal was to record observations of pollinators and document them in the iNaturalist app.
I've been using iNaturalist for a couple of years, and had over 900 observations. During the BioBlast, I added 64 observations. Here's some favorites....
Wednesday, August 5, 2020
August Full Moon
Our scenery here at our home is rather limited. Rather than drive to get some moonrise shots last night, I decided to use the cornfield behind our house.
This shot is at the moon was rising, silhouetted by the woods about a mile across the fields. The red color is due to earth's atmosphere, which filters out the blues; leaving the reds visible.
This image is a double exposure.....I wanted to capture the corn tassels glistening in the moon's glow. Unfortunately, there was no way to do that without blowing out the moon. So, there are two shots here stacked.
Tuesday, August 4, 2020
Hummingbirds
Monday, August 3, 2020
Sunday, August 2, 2020
Friday, July 17, 2020
NEOWISE at the CJ Brown Marina
One of my planned shooting sessions for NEOWISE was to feature the CJ Brown Marina in the foreground. Using the Photo Pills App and Stellarium, I was able to determine the best point of view for the image I wanted.
We arrived at the marina a bit before sundown, and watched as some boat returned to dock.
Once the sun set, we began to see stars. The comet was fainter than the previous week, but I was able to find it by doing a wide angle shot and zooming in on the camera's LCD screen. Once found, we could actually see it with our naked eyes. I used my Olympus Zuiko 300F4 to get some tele pics. I used the Olympus Live Time mode to watch my image develop on the screen and I stopped the exposure when I reached the exposure I wanted.
Using the Olympus EM1 Mark3 and the Panasonic 8-18mm lens, I did two Live Time images....one exposing for the comet, and the other exposing for the marina. The two were combined in PSCC by adding the comet layer to the marina layer in layer mode "lighten."
Overall, I was pleased with the final image....
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)