Saddle Bags Full of Pollen

Bumble bees are important pollinators of many plants. Both queens and workers collect pollen and transport it back to the colony in pollen baskets on their hind legs.



Seen here are the "saddle bags" of pollen!





Milkweeds have a unique and fascinating pollination mechanism in which the plant relies on butterflies, moths, bees, ants, and wasps for pollination. Hundreds of pollen grains are packaged into two connected sacs, which is collectively referred to as the pollinarium. When a foraging insect lands on a flower, the pollinarium can easily attach itself to its leg. Once removed from the flower, the pollinia actually re-orient as the translator arms bend as they dry. Upon landing on another flower, the properly oriented pollinarium is deposited into a receptive stigmatic groove where the pollinia breaks down and the pollen germinates, growing pollen tubes through the stigma to the ovules in the ovary.



The milkweed fruit is a follicle, commonly referred to as a pod, which splits at one suture to release many seeds, sometimes hundreds, depending on the species.

Macro Monarch

Birding has been quite slow, so insects have been the focus lately. The milkweed blooms are still producing plenty of food for butterflies. This time of the year is great for Monarchs, which are starting to hatch from their cocoons.

Click for a close up inspection!

A Good and Grainy Day Nuking It!

Nothing too fancy today, but I wanted to show that you can even have a good day when it's a bit overcast and gloomy.

I was disappointed when I got off work yesterday, as the skies were blanketed in a thick cloud layer. It's been that way for a few days now, and it's building up a frustration in me. I haven't been on a "good" shoot in a while, so every cloudy day adds up. This day had just enough light to tease... So, I set my course despite the less-than-perfect conditions because I have been checking on a few sights that have chicks yet to be born. As I am doing that, I notice a lot of seagull activity near the "nuke plant" lake shore.

I see plenty of Caspian Terns, a rogue American White Pelican and a few Great Blue Herons in a matter of minutes. My hopes increase...

The local birding hotline has had sightings of a Laughing Gull at this location, so I sit in the parking lot for a few minutes. A few Caspian Terns go by, and as I follow their route, I see a great place to park my behind and wait for them to come to me. As I am trailing a tern, a shadow from above hints at a flyover I didn't see coming, and as I look, I see it's the (notorious) Laughing Gull. Damn! I am walking and my hands are full with my camera, water, phone, and monopod! Oh well, I can wait him out when I get to my spot. I get set up and wait, and as I am waiting, a few photo ops go by and I take a few close up fly by shots.






A few fishermen walk by, we chat about the crappy weather, and I lose my vantage point with their arrival. The gulls shy away even farther down the shore, so I end up calling it a day. I never did see the Laughing Gull again, but today looks promising, weather-wise...

Buck Portrait

Exploring a new back road produced this buck who was kind enough to stay put as I backed up with my car to get the shots. He's a cute fella, but not yet wise enough to know that I am a potential threat. He stood there eating the whole time with out much care other than chewing on some tasty weeds. I hope he finds a mentor soon!

(Click on photo for a close up look at the velvet rack.)

Great Spangled Fritillary Butterfly

I love shooting different things that I don't necessarily know about. Butterflies are one subject matter that I severely lack knowledge of. After shooting something I know nothing about, I google and research and find out all kinds of interesting things. So not only do I now know this new butterfly's name, I also know that it loves milkweed flowers, in which I didn't even know that they flowered at all. I also learned that pollination for these is very tricky, but I won't get into that. Google it if you are interested, it's quite fascinating. Anyway, I had a two-fer of learning for this day! I loved it!



Click the photo for a good look at its cute face!

A Day in the Life of Turtles

There once were 2 turtles sitting on a log in a pond. The smaller turtle was sitting on the larger turtle sitting on that log. The smaller one named Dexter, depended on the larger one named Ernie to show him the ways of the world...








Dexter asked Ernie if it was safe to climb the log higher. Ernie said ofcourse it was safe for big turtles, but for smaller turtles it was best to stay close. Dexter decided to take the walk anyway and climbed over Ernie to the log that stretched up to the sky.









Dexter was getting quite excited while climbing over Ernie to get to his big adventure, that he was stepping all over Ernie's face in his big hurry...









Ernie had to seek the cover of his shell just to protect himself from his little buddy's carelessness... Dexter finally gets over the hurdle of his friend turtle, and makes his way up as Ernie watches with anticipation for his little buddy...








All of a sudden Dexter loses his footing, falls and disappears into the pond, as Ernie looks on, regretting that he didn't talk his buddy out of something he was too small for...Then all of a sudden... Dexter pops up at the side of the log and tells Ernie that he made it!







Ernie was so happy to see Dex and was really proud of him too! But, with that, also came anger and he told Dexter just how worried he was that he went and pulled this stunt and that he was lucky to even be alive, that plenty of creatures could have made a meal out of him, so he should thank his lucky stars...









and then Ernie feeling guilty for being so hard on Dexter, tells his friend that he was a warrior and that it took alot of guts to do what he did, but should be really careful when he is out in the big pond alone like that...







Dexter then tells Ernie that he appreciates his worrisome manner, but that he needs to learn from his own mistakes, and that he learned that he shouldn't rush things, and just act like any other turtle and take his time and hone his skills...






So they walked off together to discover another log to conquer and learn a few more life lessons together as the best of friends! The End!

Bullfrog Tadpoles and the Great Egret

I had posted a week or so back about a Great Egret fishing and catching mudpuppies. I was wrong. It's back was turned in all of my shots, so my I.D.ing skills were a bit off. This time, as the fishing was taking place, I could see the catch pretty good, and after googling, it seems that the creature catch is Bullfrog Tadpoles. They are some giant tadpoles, as they measure about the size of a mans hand, so the Egret is getting a pretty good meal, and no wonder he came back for more! Here are a few shots:

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