These little guys love to sing in the drain pipes.
Green Treefrog
The butterflies love the flowers
but sometimes they just want a drink. I had dumped out the horses' water trough earlier.
Look what I found under the well cover: a female black widow spider! We have lots of these on the farm, under leaves, under rocks, and under water troughs that haven't been used for a while, yet I rarely find them in the garden itself. So I'm careful to wear gloves in certain situations.
*no spiders were harmed in or after the creation of this post*
Bidens are the great insect favorite this month. The flowers are literally abuzz with dozens, even hundreds of bees, wasps, flies, moths, and butterflies.
Another that looks like a Tim Burton creation.
Digger wasps are very common this time of year, buzzing in circles above lawns in great numbers. They are beautiful wasps, with their iridescent blue-black wings and chestnut abdomens with yellow markings.
To see more critters of all sorts, visit Camera Critters!
That's an amazing array of photos!
ReplyDeleteWow - we were blown away by these photos, absolutely amazing! Wonderful CC post. Schnauzer snuggles - JD and Max.
ReplyDeleteWonderful photos, thanks for sharing your critters.
ReplyDeleteFrog choirs are my favorite! I always stop if I have my grandsons with me so we can hear the frogs sing. I really love them to sing me to sleep.
ReplyDeleteYour pictures are fantastic! Especially the bees - they are so close and clear you can see how fuzzy they look.
Great job!!!
Neat shots! I have the underside of a tree frog posted!
ReplyDeleteMy favorite shot was the last in the bumble bee set, but they are all nice.
ReplyDeleteAmazing photos. I have never seen a tree frog before or a digger wasp.
ReplyDeleteCarolyn
great close ups. i love the yellow color!
ReplyDeleteAll the critters are cute, but, ooh! aah! I especially love the tree frog. They are so sweet and so tiny, but they make wonderful calls!
ReplyDeleteexcellent captures!
ReplyDeleteSweet bay your photos are ( oh the adjectives! ) ... they are beautiful... I love the frog with his ET feet... gold eye lids... butterflies are lovely and the wasp portrait with the extra critter on it is fun ... to see it's body awash in pollen dust... for me the winner is the digger wasp in the yellow landscape (fourth from bottom)... gorgeous! I must say Yikes! to that spider... gosh... that one gives me chills... looks like it is poisonous??
ReplyDeleteHave a lovely Sunday. Carol
Sweetbay,
ReplyDeleteFun photos, the Black Widow spider is very common in our parts. I found one once set up on a lupine flower and it made a killer photo.
What an array of buggies! Great pictures of a flurry of activity in your garden. I love the tree frogs.
ReplyDeleteYou have a great appreciation for the little critters of the world and you do a great job of sharing them with us!
ReplyDeleteBe careful of the black widows.
Sweetbay, those shots are amazing! It's a true wonder being able to take such close looks at animals and insects like this. The blue wings on the last shot look as if they're made of metal!
ReplyDeleteHi Sweet Bay, you have done a great public relations job for the Bidens! First the beauty of the flower en masse and now the cool visitors it attracts. We have seen many of the black widows around too this year. But few butterflies, sadly. I love the Tim Burton reference, what an imagination he has! :-)
ReplyDeleteFrances
Your camera must be awesome to capture such detail. All beautiful, even the black widow?
ReplyDeleteThose Bidens are a feast for the flying sorts!
ReplyDeleteLove the little tree frog :)
I'd love to see all those visitors in my yard, well except for the Black Widow. I love the treefrog.
ReplyDeleteJet another frog, I simply love frogs!! a treefrog, very beautiful, aren't they just lovely :)
ReplyDeleteGREAT series of photos Sweet Bay. The clarity is amazing ~ you can see the tiny hairs on the bee bodies. Love those butterflies. I keep meaning to make a "puddling" spot for them but never have gotten around to it. This year it would have been wasted since we didn't have many butterflies of any kind. The frog is adorable, not so much the black widow!!
ReplyDeleteExcellent photos Sweetbay...the wings are so transparent and gorgeous. I love the Bidens and they sure are critter magnets. I've found the Black Widow in a few spots...I was so glad to be wearing gloves! She doesn't scare me like the Brown recluses do! A pond would bring the frogs to the yard! On the list. gail
ReplyDeleteWonderful photos! I especially like the "Tim Burton creation" :) Love the frog too, and the wings on the wasp...so pretty. Great bee shots!
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed seeing your kitties in the earlier post too. They're such fun to photograph, aren't they?
Great capture of all these critters, Sweet Bay! Thanks for showing the Digger Wasps; they do look like what I had in my garden, but mine wouldn't open its wings so I could see the rest of its body. That Black Widow looks very intimidating! But don't you just love the bumbles? I could watch them for hours.
ReplyDeleteYou have several wasps I don't recognize from my area. Kind of sad, the frenzy of insect activity. Most of them won't be with us next year.
ReplyDeleteMarnie
The only Bidens I'd ever seen was the tiny scrambly scruffy ones that go in pots - completely unlike the native that is gorgeous. I was shocked to see the black widow - seems so very exotic to me. Glad to discover your blog.
ReplyDeleteHi SB~~ Thank you for visiting my blog and for the nice words.
ReplyDeleteI hope you tagged your black widow photo. It's one of the best I've seen and would be helpful to anyone needing a good depiction.
I commented to someone recently that if everyone had a Seven-Sons shrub in the garden, bees would not be in peril. It looks like Bidens is another bee-caretaker.
WOW and ... WOW.. and WOOOOOOW!!!!!
ReplyDeleteThat is some amazing photos!!!
Linda
Beautiful and fascinating pictures. Thank You!
ReplyDeleteEeek. I had to scroll really fast past that black widow. Not that it is a bad picture, I just get the creepsss! I had two in my greenhouse this spring.!!!
ReplyDeleteThe rest of the critters are great, and I looked at them a bt longer. Thanks for sharing.
Rosey
The frog is very cute, but my favorites are the insects and the spider. I love the details on the spider. My favorite one was of the swallowtail "puddling."
ReplyDeleteI looked up your lady butterfly, and since it has 2 spots on the bottom set of wings, according to my Kaufman Focus Guide, it's an American lady. It looks like the painted ladies around here to me, except for the number of spots.