Tag Archives: Insect Behavior

07.24.2022 Today I learned a new behavior and the word for it.

Posted on July 24, 2022 by Steve Gingold

While photographing in the yard Friday afternoon, I noticed a Goldenrod Crab spider with it’s bumblebee prey and made several photographs. (Note, this is not Nature at its prettiest but all part of the grand scheme of things.) Through the … Continue reading →

Posted in Amherst, Closeup Photography, Insect Behavior, macro photography, Nature Photography, Western Massachusetts | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 23 Comments

08.23.2020-2 Great Golden Digger Wasp

Posted on August 23, 2020 by Steve Gingold

I photographed these in the yard a few times on our milkweed flowers.  Now I am finding them on Virgin’s Bower-Clematis virginiana growing among our elderberries behind the wood pile. They are beauties among wasps and relatively harmless…to humans…but do … Continue reading →

Posted in Amherst, Closeup Photography, Insect Behavior, macro photography, Nature Photography, Western Massachusetts | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 16 Comments

08.03.2020 Monday Macro- A couple of bug buds on a pod

Posted on August 3, 2020 by Steve Gingold

A pair of mating Milkweed Bugs-Lygaeus kalmii in an unusual position on a milkweed pod. Usually they mate rear to rear. The one on the left does seem rather fond of its partner. Evidence of the twin flash can be … Continue reading →

Posted in Amherst, Animal Behavior, Closeup Photography, Insect Behavior, Insects, macro photography, Nature Photography, Western Massachusetts | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 20 Comments

06.23.2020 Old Formica Ant had a farm, ee i ee i o

Posted on June 23, 2020 by Steve Gingold

Another “found” subject while looking for the orchids at the Lawrence Swamp wet meadow…which thanks to our drought isn’t terribly wet right now. Several plants had many of these scenes happening in the early morning. Aphids and ants have a … Continue reading →

Posted in Animal Behavior, Closeup Photography, Insect Behavior, Insects, macro photography, Nature Photography, Western Massachusetts | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 38 Comments

02.12.2020-1 Aspen Leaf Miner

Posted on February 12, 2020 by Steve Gingold

The other day I mentioned that the Ice Abstract I posted reminded me of a leaf miner’s trail. These are very small larvae, mostly moths but also flies, wasps, and others, that spend their developmental time within leaves feeding on … Continue reading →

Posted in Closeup Photography, Insect Behavior, macro photography, Nature Photography, Western Massachusetts | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 27 Comments

09.11.2019 Milkweed Tussock Moth Caterpillars

Posted on September 11, 2019 by Steve Gingold

There are not many insects that thrive dining on milkweed.  Its sap is a bitter (I guess) latex that is poisonous to most, but a hardy few not only gobble the leaves up but use the poisons as a defense … Continue reading →

Posted in Animal Behavior, Closeup Photography, ecology, Insect Behavior, Insects, Nature Photography | Tagged , , , , , , | 15 Comments

01.24.2014 Wool Sower

Posted on January 24, 2015 by Steve Gingold

Steve Schwartzman brought up the subject of galls in his recent blog post of an Oak Gall.  Most often they are just a plain lump or roundish growth found on a leaf or stem.  Many species of plants are gall … Continue reading →

Posted in Animal Behavior, Closeup Photography, Insect Behavior, macro photography, Massachusetts Audubon, Nature Photography, Patterns in Nature, Western Massachusetts | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 34 Comments