2008

10/10/08 - Update: Spiders:  I'm about half way through identifying all my new images. Please be patient.  There will be lots of new additions.

09/26/08 - Update: Wasps:  Finally added a wasp section to the bug gallery.  I added 59 images of wasps of the following kind: Cuckoo Wasps; Ichneumon Wasps, Braconid Wasps and Gasteruptions; Spider Wasps(Pompilidae); Thread-waisted Wasps(Sphecidae), includes Apoid Wasps(Apoidea) and family Crabronidae; Yellowjackets, Paper Wasps, Hornets, Potter, Mason and Pollen Wasps(Vespidae). Identifying all the wasps was quite an interesting education.  It's really amazing what all these little critters do to keep themselves occupied all day.  I was especially pleased to discover that hardly any wasp is really a threat to humans.  The only wasps that seem to have a deservedly bad reputation for being ornery are the Yellowjackets, and even then not all Yellowjackets are ornery.  Of the Yellowjackets I've been photographing, only the Common Yellowjacket seems to have earned a bad reputation; maybe that's why it's called Vespula vulgaris - careful if you drink something from a can at a BBQ or picnic, you could swallow one. But on the lighter side, most wasps are just too busy being wasps to be bothered with humans, and if you don't annoy them, they won't bother you.  And if a wasp flies willy-nilly around you, it's not trying to figure out how to attack you - if it wanted to do that, it would go straight for the huge target that is you.  When it flies around, up and down and all over you, all it's doing is sniffing you - to see if you're carrying anything good to eat - in most cases, that would mean other bugs, pollen or nectar.  Of the myriad bees and wasps I've been around this year, I haven't yet seen an aggressive one.  I have, however, had some land on me.  When that happens, to get rid of them, I just gently brush or blow them away, and they obligingly fly off to land somewhere else.  I do however stay a safe distance from nests. One other bit of information here: in searching for the identity of these wasps, I discovered that many have never been designated a common name.  For ease of reference, I have assigned names to those wasps based on the bug they prey on.  You, however, may know them by regional/colloquial names.  All Latin names, however, are the actual scientific names designated. Next, I plan on redoing the Spider portion of the bug gallery, but first I have to identify my many new finds.

09/02/08 - Update: Butterflies:  Added a slew of butterfly images to the gallery and made a few corrections - like the Pale Swallowtail pages.  It turns out the butterfly, though correctly named, was miss-named.  It is actually a hybrid of a Pale Swallowtail and a Tiger Swallowtail - they are occasionally found but are rare.  Also added some nice, new Gray Hairstreak images, one with the butterfly sharing a flower with a honey bee. Bees:  Added a slew of bees to the gallery and sectionalized the gallery by type of bee.  Some are quite pretty. Next, I plan on redoing the Wasp portion of the bug gallery, but first I have to identify some interesting new finds.

08/23/08 - Update: Bugs:  Added a slew of flies to the gallery and sectionalized the gallery by type of fly.  It's amazing how many different types of flies there are and how many don't look like what's flying around the kitchen, garbage pail and poo piles.  Many flies have a unique look all their own, and many even look like bees and wasps.  Bee and wasp mimmicks are not hard to tell apart from the real thing - check the antenna; fly antenna are much smaller than bee or wasp antenna, also, flies have only two wings, and their compound eyes are much closer together than bees' or wasps' eyes, which sit more on the side of the head. Next, after a short break, I plan on redoing the Bee and Wasp portion of the bug gallery.  In the past month, I've managed some very nice shots of quite a few attractive bees and wasps, but first I have to identify them.

08/06/08 - Update: Dragonflies:  Added macro closeups (I've managed to get shots where you can actually see individual eyes in the compound eye) for Blue Dasher, Cardinal Meadowhawk, Red-veined Skimmer, Western River cruiser, Commanche Skimmer and Pacific Spiketail.  In most cases, new images included both sexes. Butterflies:  Added additional images for Gray Hairstreak.  Also corrected the entry for California Sycamore Borer; found out it was really a Strawberry Crown Moth.  Also added proper name to yellow caterpillar, Silver Spotted Tiger Moth. Miscellaneous Bugs:  Corrected some of the bug names. Next I'll add new images to the Miscellaneous Bugs with critters I've recently identified - several Tachnid Flies, Syrphid Flies (one as a Golden Rod Crab Spider's dinner), Dance flies, Robber Flies and the like.

07/24/08 - Miscellaneous Bugs Update: I've rewritten and/or added 13 more pages of Miscellaneous Bugs, and I still appear to be far from finished.  I'll be adding additional bugs in installments, as I finish each section.  It's slow going since I'm trying to correctly identify each new entry. I added several new True Bugs, Cicadas (one I couldn't identify, but I included it anyway), a couple of wasps and more. After I finish the Miscellaneous Bugs Gallery, I'll be doing a major update to the Spider Gallery - I'm discovering new jumping spiders and crab spiders every day.  After that, I'll be updating all the other galleries with new images I've acquired since last update, even got images of new dragonfly species and some nice new Emma's Dancer damselfly images.  Looks like I'll be busy through the winter. Hope you enjoy checking out the Miscellaneous Bugs Gallery.

07/14/08 - Miscellaneous Bugs Update: I've rewritten and added 37 pages of Miscellaneous Bugs, and I appear to be far from finished.  I'm discovering new bugs in the yard on a daily basis, and the pile of new pages to add seems to be growing faster than I can create them - a big part of the time problem is identification of the bugs.  So you can see what I'm up to, I'm loading those first 37 pages.  I'll be adding additional bugs in installments, as I finish each section. After I finish the Miscellaneous Bugs Gallery, I'll be doing a major update to the Spiders Gallery.  After that, I'll be updating all the other galleries with new images I've acquired since last update.  Looks like I'll be busy all summer. Hope you enjoy checking out the Miscellaneous Bugs Gallery.

06/28/08 - Bird Update: Added new image to Steller's Jay collection and added images to new categories for Band-tailed Pigeon and Winter Wren. Next, I plan to completely rewrite the Miscellaneous Bugs Gallery.  Weather permitting, I go out with the camera every day and give the yard a slow once-around.  This year there aren't nearly as many dragonflies as last year - not only in the yard, but at the river, too.  I think it's because there's still so much snow in the hills, and the streams and rivers are running higher and colder than normal for this time of year.  I also believe that early spring temperatures have been hanging around too long - chilly nights, cool days.  But the dragonfly absence has given rise to an observation: there's plenty of other drama and beauty going on about the yard.  Hopefully, in about a week or so, I'll have the new Bug Gallery finished.  It may, however, take longer, for I'm discovering new, interesting bugs every day . . . now, if I could only find a way to easily identify them all . . . .

06/24/08 - Damselfly Update: Added new images to Northern Bluet andromorph female, Northern Bluet male, Pacific Forktail and Swift Forktail collections. Next, I plan to tackle the Bird Gallery with several new species and a few new images for existing species. Then, finally, I plan to completely rewrite the Miscellaneous Bugs Gallery.  It's currently completely random.  I plan to redo it in the same format as the other galleries - by bug within bug type.  Most of the updates are of bees, but I've also discovered some neat, odd bugs in the yard, and my experimenting with diopters has also provided an interesting image or two, including a white and red crab spider with a wasp dinner - at first, when I took the pictures, I thought I was just taking a picture of a dead wasp on a blackberry flower; I didn't notice the spider until after I downloaded the images . . . talk about camouflage!  Guess I'll have to update the Spider Gallery, as well.

06/21/08 - Dragonfly Update: Added new images to Blue Dasher (male) and Common Whitetail (female) collections.  Also added first images for a Sinuous Snaketail (male) and added new species images for Canada Darner (female) and Pacific Clubtail (female). Next, I plan to update the Damselfly Gallery, then the Bird Gallery, followed by the Miscellaneous Bugs Gallery.  All told, I have 44 more pages to build - as well as a new guest artist section to maintain, chores galore around the house and two books to finish writing.

06/20/08 - Butterfly Update: Added new images to Two-tailed Swallowtail and Ochre Ringlet collection.  Also added new species images for Pale Swallowtail and Gray Hairstreak, as well as a hairy yellow caterpillar. I plan to update the Dragonfly Gallery next.  Hopefully, I'll have it updated within the next few days.  After the Dragonfly update, I hope to do the Damselfly Gallery and then the Bird Gallery, followed by the Miscellaneous Bugs Gallery.

06/18/08 - General Update: Now that it's started to warm up a bit, all types of bugs are finally starting to frequent the yard.  Newly arrived Dragonflies include the Red-veined Meadowhawk, Western Pondhawk and the Sinuous Snaketail.  No new variety of Damselfly has shown up, but the Northern Bluettes and Swift Forktails are all over the place.  Butterflies are also starting to show up, and I've recently gotton some fairly good shots of a Pale Swallowtail, Two-Tailed Swallowtail, Gray Hairstreak and a Common Ochre Ringlet.  I saw some Skippers, too, but they didn't sit still long enough to get any pictures.  As for regular bugs, a few interesting specimens have arrived, the most interesting of which I thought was a Snakefly. I'm now going through my new images and will be updating all applicable gallaries shortly.

06/01/08 - Damselfly and Dragonfly Update: Spotted the first Common Green Darner female of the year, and some new damselflies.  I got pictures of all of them, but as usual, not all images are worth looking at.  As soon as I have everything properly identified, I'll add what images are worthy to the Dragonfly Gallery and Damselfly Gallery. PHOTOGRAPHY NOTE: I've been taking digital pictures for only about a year and a half, so I'm still discovering a lot of "basic" knowledge.  While my camera (Fuji S5200) takes a fine picture, it does so using an electronic viewfinder and electronic autofocus.  With the high magnification of macro/closeup photography and the resulting paper-thin depth of field, it would help greatly to have a clearer, sharper view of my subjects through the viewfinder and better control over the focus process - the autofocus can't always find a damselfly or dragonfly when it sits in front of a busy background, and the electronic manual focus of the S5200 is rather cumbersome for someone with hands as large as mine.  From my SLR days, I have to say I much prefer an optical through-the-lens viewfinder and a manual focusing ring.  Guess it's time to consider upgrading to DSLR and make use of my old Nikon lenses.

05/27/08 - Damselfly Update: The adjacent damselflies were two of six I found in various parts of the yard today.  The one on the left is a Northern Bluet - Enallagma annexum, male. The one on the right is a Northern Bluet - Enallagma annexum, andromorph female . . . at first I thought it might be a Boreal Bluet - Enallagma boreale, andromorph female, but then I noticed it has blue eyes.  All six damselflies were of the northern Bluet variety. All damselflies I saw today were working sparse patches of foot-high grasses and weeds.

05/27/08 - Dragonfly Update: This is the first Canada Darner I've seen in the yard - actually, it's the second; about 1/2 hour earlier I saw one, which didn't land, wandering around the fir trees by the front gate.  Lots of bugs were out today, especially drab grey little moths.  Also, there seem to be an abundance of Crane Flies this year . . . which I've seen dragonflies eat, so that could be a good thing. I'm hoping tomorrow will usher in more dragonflies, but I have a feeling not . . . it's supposed to be cooler with rain.

05/25/08 - Dragonfly Update: This is the first dragonfly I've seen since I mowed the lawn on the 5th, a Common Whitetail - Plathemis lydia, female.  I still don't know what dragonfly I saw that first day . . . oh well.  Later in the day Vi spotted a male Common Whitetail out the kitchen window.  I saw the Whitetail but before I could get the camera ready, it flew out of reach into the blackberries behind the house.  I took a second walk around the yard and spotted several more Whitetails, but they were all on the move, so I couldn't get more pictures. Here's hoping the dragonsflies are finally arriving in numbers.

05/05/08 - Dragonfly Update: Spotted the first dragonfly in the yard while I was mowing today.  It was startled out of a fir tree next to the shed when the tractor mower kicked up a cloud of dust and leafy debris.  Not sure of the dragonfly species.  It looked all black and shiny, and my first thought was a Black Saddlebags, but I remember them to be bigger than this one.  Hopefully, I'll find out tomorrow.

04/26/08 - Wild Turkey Update: Wild turkeys are out and about - the Toms strutting their stuff and the hens doing their best to ignore them.  This one, however, wasn't as successful at ignoring a strutting Tom and is now nesting.  Notice how well she's camouflaged, considering the nest is on the ground and under very little cover.  I walked past this one three times while looking for damselflies before I realized it was only about two feet away from me . . . now I avoid the area so she doesn't get spooked and abandon her future family before they hatch, though I do peek at her from afar every day.

04/26/08 - Damselfly Update: Spotted the first damselfly of the year (Swift Forktail - Ischnura erratica - male) in the grass by an old oak stump.  This damselfly was only about twenty feet from the nesting turkey, above. Now I take the long way, around the shed to search the area for damselflies and dragonflies. The Swift Forktail and Pacific Forktail damselflies usually arrive in early April.

03/22/08 - Turkey Vulture - Buzzard Update: Spotted the first Turkey Vulture of the year, circling several hundred feet above the house. It soon found the remains of a dead deer lying in the brush in a neighbor's field. I usually spot the first Buzzard on March 16.

03/06/08 - Hummingbird Update: The first female Rufous Hummingbird of the year arrived about mid-morning, bringing along her juvenile son from last year's hatching. By the end of the next day, we had three nesting pairs around the house.

03/03/08 - Hummingbird Update: The first Rufous Hummingbird of the year arrived about mid-day today. After checking out the feeder, he claimed a perch on top of the central Fire Thorne bush and kept a vigilent eye out for passing females. Some years the hummers arrive by February 15th.

2007

10/10/07 - Mushroom Update:
I've added 21 new images and completely redesigned the Mushroom Gallery.  Unfortunately, I don't know the names of any of them.  Regardless, they still make neat photography subjects and they're interesting to look at.  If you know the names of the mushrooms, please let me know.  Hope you enjoy viewing the expanded and improved Mushroom Gallery.

10/10/07 - Butterfly Update:
I've determined the names of the butterflies I've taken images of and completely redesigned the Butterfly Gallery.  I've added several new species and additional images of some existing species.  I've also expanded the Butterfly Gallery to include one rather pretty moth.  I'll be adding more moth images after I gather all their names.  Hope you enjoy viewing the improved Butterfly Gallery.

07/31/07 - Dragonfly Update:
This has been a pretty good year for taking pictures of Dragonflies.  Whereas last year I only managed to capture a few different kinds, this year I managed to capture 16 - and in most cases, I managed images of both sexes.  Many of the Dragonflies are beautifully colored and marked, but even the less colorful varieties are magnificent in their own right.  And by the way, you don't necessarily need to be around a body of water to have Dragonflies visit you.  We have no bodies of water on our property, only a seasonal creek that runs through our neighbor's property (about 150 - 200 yards away), and starting in early June, their creek is dry.

Since Dragonflies appear to like perches to display on and lurk from for passing bugs, I set up numerous dead branches around the blackberries - they also seem to like hanging around the blackberry vines and perching on last years dead runners.  If you decide you want to take pictures of Dragonflies, the main thing to remember is that when you approach them, do so very slowly, and have the camera set as soon as you start your approach.  As soon as I spot a Dragonfly, I turn on the camera and set it to full zoom - in the case of the Fuji S5200, that's 10X - and I turn on the Macro Mode.  I then slowly maneuver to within 6 to 8 feet of the subject.  After taking 1 or 2 images, I take another slow step forward and take another few images.  I keep repeating the step-and-shoot process until I'm within the near range limit of the lens - by then, I can usually move fairly freely around the Dragonfly without spooking it, though I have noticed they watch me intently.  I've also found that Dragonfly bodies are highly reflective.  As a result, I often either increase my shutter speed or use a narrower aperture (sometimes both) to eliminate some of the glare.  I've also recently started experimenting with flash, even in full sunlight; it seems to bring out the colors and feature definition better.  And it may sound odd, but I've had the best luck approaching them when I'm wearing a white shirt.

For your viewing enjoyment and identification purposes, I've completely rewritten the Dragonfly pages, and where before I displayed only 10 images without names, I've now added well over 100 images with both Latin and common names of each variety.

And I'd like to give special thanks to Dr. Dennis Paulson, Director Emeritus of The Slater Museum of Natural History at the University of Puget Sound and Steve Valley of the Oregon Dragonfly And Damselfly Survey for their help in identifying the various images presented in my Dragonfly Gallery and my Damselfly Gallery.

I'd also like to thank the gang over at Bug Guide for their expertise - an excellent resource for identifying many of the bugs I've discovered around the yard and neighborhood.

Equipment:
I've recently been asked, several times, what camera I use.  All recent images were taken with an off the shelf, Fuji Finepix S5200 - no additional options or features, not even filters.  The S5200 is a 5 MP point and shoot digital with a 10X optical zoom and a 5.2X digital zoom.  I never use the digital zoom; it adds distortions to the image.  For subjects within 6 feet, like bugs, I also use macro.  All my shots are taken without a tripod or monopod.  I'm still new to digital photography, so to learn the camera, I hardly ever use the "Auto" setting - so far, I prefer Programmed Auto (for aperture adjustments) and Aperture Priority.  For light metering, I prefer center spot metering.  Weather permitting, I stroll around the yard for an hour or two every day and take anywhere from 50 to 100 digital photos.  If I'm lucky, I may get half a dozen images that are keepers.  Various flash settings are also used, sometimes because they're needed and sometimes for effect.

Prior to using the S5200, I used a Nikon 8008 35mm SLR, prior to that a Konika AF 35 mm SLR.  My main reasons for switching to digital were the amount of time and hassle it took to develop a roll of film, and that scanning the photo into a digital format for the site always lost some of the photo's quality.  With a good digital camera, there's no quality loss, and with all their bells and whistles, touch up software is seldom needed.