I haven’t had much time to play with the macro lens for my new camera, so I set out to give it a try today. Lets just say I still need A LOT of practice.

First of all, I went back to a favorite spot of mine out on the Cape. I love it because you walk through a succession of different ecosystems. But before I could even get out of the parking lot, an older gentleman pointed me to this redtail sitting in a near by tree. Personally, I think the fella is giving me the evil eye.

You start out walking through a marsh. The natural history museum has nesting osprey here, with cute babies and all, with a webcam hooked up. So, if you’d like to see live feed of the osprey click here. I think there is currently 2 chicks.

On the board walkway through the marsh there were several flies boppin’ around, including the deer flies snipe fly like the one below.

I’m not sure what kind of flies the next two are, I’ll let you know once I have time to look them up…unless one of you already knows and wants to save me some time.

The next two images are of the same syrphid fly…I love how striking the red is on the abdomen.

And here is clever Kelley trying to get a picture of a dragonfly in mid-flight. I’m guessing by the time summer is over I will be better at getting pictures like this.

Next you walk into an upland wooded habitat. The first thing that caught my eye was this little blue buprestid (Agrilus cyanescens) who kept flashing its forewings.

Next in line was this little skipper pearl crescent (Phyciodes sp.).

Have you ever seen what looked like a spit wad on a plant and wondered what that was all about?

The froth is actually created by a little bug called a spittle bug nymph. I coaxed him out of the froth for a photo op…he’s on the right.

The spittle bug is a true bug with piercing-sucking mouth parts. They use their proboscis, which acts like a hypodermic needle, to puncture into the plant wall and suck up the plant juices. They remove so much water and carbohydrates that excess fluid is produced. Then, they bubble air from the tip of their abdomen into the liquid to produce the frothy nature of the spittle. And, as you might guess, the spittle hides the bug from predators and keeps it from drying out in the heat.

Lastly in the insect line-up is this parasitoid wasp in the Ichneumonid family and this honey bee.

Back to the birds. Every time I see common yellowthroats I can’t help but think that they are just too cute and curious.

Here is the striking male with his famous black bandit mask on his face.

And the female…

Oh, and I almost forgot…the last ecosystem that one encounters at the spot I often frequent is the ocean. As I made it over the sand dune to the water I spotted this little guy running across the sand with his one claw up in the air. But he got a little camera shy when I got up to him.

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