Today starts National Moth Week, yeah I didn’t know that until today either. Really, it’s a thing, look it up if you don’t believe me. I thought it would be good to highlight a few of my moth related posts.
Behind the Scenes – Link Obtains the Triforce
Here’s a quick pic of my setup for this picture. I used a LEGO light up brick and fiber optic lighting piece. Of course, I had my bokeh filter as well. Then, it was a matter of adjusting the lighting and capturing the couple shots to stack.
Link Obtains the Triforce
Ever since I first learned about bokeh, my mind started racing with the possibilities. I think I first had this idea nearly 2 years ago. The first step, which took me forever to get around to, was to design and cut a filter with my wife’s Cricut. Next was finding a small/portable light source. Taking the pictures wasn’t bad. I took a brighter one of Link in focus, and then one with only the small light source to capture the triforce. Then I layered the two pictures.
Achemon Sphinx Moth (Eumorpha achemon)
My daughter called to me because she saw something big flying around outside. At first, I didn’t see anything, but then I saw something flapping its wings very hard. At first, I thought it might be a humming bird. Then, I saw that it was a moth.
It was about mid morning when this rather large moth was flying around, but then it landed on our porch and stayed there. I eventually took a closer look, and it didn’t move. At this point, it was clearly dead. If you look at the pictures below, there’s a weird spot on its back, near its head, where it doesn’t look like it fully developed.
What I found interesting about this one, after reading about it here, it is often mistaken for a humming bird.
Green Mantisfly (Zeugomantispa spp.)
I saw this odd looking bug on our front door while taking out the trash. At first, it looked like a bug holding something, but getting a closer look, I could see it was a mantis of sorts. I didn’t fully know what it was until I looked it up. It can be hard to tell from pictures, but this mantisfly is quite small compared to the typical mantis.
Swarm of Bees
This set of pictures is actually from the summer of 2011. This swarm of bees had gathered outside my place of work at the time. It was there for several days. I can’t remember if they moved themselves, or if pest control was called.
McDonald’s Transforming Happy Meal Toys
I found my old collection of these transforming Happy Meal toys. They really do look like a precursor to Bot-Bots.
Junk Bugs – Lacewing (Chrysopidae) Larva
I was sitting on my back patio over the weekend when I noticed a little ball of dust/dirt moving in a very deliberate way, the way dust ought not to move. I blew on the little ball, and it stopped moving, then picked up in the same direction again. Intrigued, I assumed it was a bug that looks like a dust ball (since we have stick bugs, and leaf bugs, and I’m sure others). I looked online, and after a bit of searching, I learned that it’s the larva of a Lacewing fly.
The very next day, I noticed another dust ball walking around outside our front door. I grabbed my phone to zoom in and snap a couple pictures, and sure enough, once you zoom in, you can see the larva. What’s even more disgusting is, it doesn’t naturally look like dust. It’s carrying the carcasses of other dead bugs on it’s back. They have barbs on their back that collect all manner of things for camouflage, including dust, dirt, and dead bug carcasses.
Mohawks
I find it interesting that these figures are separated by almost a decade and their hair is so similar, even the blue wash.
Green Orchid Bee (Euglossa dilemma Friese)
Our Queen Anne Palms are flowering, and I like to take a look at the bees pollinating. I saw this green iridescent bee, and thought I was seeing some crazy mutation, but it just ended up being a Green Orchid Bee, which was pretty cool to learn that it was even a thing.
I saw another a day later and tried to get some better pictures, but it spooked way easier than the rest of the bees, and flew off before I was even able to get close.