“The Deep Dive”
September 14th, 2024
“Three Ways to Hug You”
September 13th, 2024
poor spider
Tagged: August
I felt very bad for this little spider; it was just blowing in the wind on this tiny flower and twitching its legs every time that another insect came by. There was just 1 problem, this little spider was about the size of a grain of rice, and the bugs that were coming by? They were several times its size.
This was the busiest of the busy busy bees. This little worker buzzed all over gathering pollen and in the meantime, got themselves absolutely covered in pollen. Just take a look at this zoomed in version of the same photo!
When you’re growing up, you learn “facts” that stick with you and you later learn are more “general rules”. Two that come to mind are “humans have five senses” and “moths have antenna that are fuzzy or comb-like”. Well, this is a Ailanthus Webworm Moth, and not only does it not have fuzzy antenna, but Wikipedia says that until it’s in flight, it resembles a beetle. Second grade science class was just full of lies!
(The senses of motion and balance are great examples of “other” senses.)
On my visit to the Sagawau Canyon waterfall, you can imagine my surprise when I encountered the same ailanthus webworm moth from the previous photo (and from the photo in 2010.) However, when I looked up the photo from 2010, I found that the photo was from the Sag Quarries Forest Preserve, which is right next to the Sagawau Environmental Learning Center (where the canyon waterfall is located).
This moth wandered all over this particular group of blossoms, seemingly enjoying the buffet. I would love to read an explanation of the coloring for this moth; it doesn’t appear to blend into any flower that I’m aware of.
Back in 2010, I photographed this type of insect with my iPhone. We were on a trip to see a friend on the south side of Chicago, and I remember the photograph because it was one of the first “good enough quality” photos with an iPhone that I’d taken.
Two weeks ago, when I took the above photograph of the same type of insect, I thought to myself “that’s odd that I haven’t see an insect like that in a very long time.” I photograph insects every year, and I wondered why I hadn’t seen such a unique insect in over ten years. According to Wikipedia, they only travel this far north some summers and are more of a southern insect.
The NENA Butterfly Garden doesn’t just have butterflies, but like the variety of plants and flowers, there is a variety of insects as well. I always love finding these damsel flies and watching their movements.
If you’ve known me or followed my photography for a while, you’ll know that I love photographing waterfalls. I’ve lived in the Chicago area for the past 15+ years, and I assumed that I knew about all of the naturally occurring waterfalls in Northern Illinois. But…one of my friends visited Sagawau Canyon Nature Preserve; well that sounds cool – a “canyon” in the Chicago area! And when I looked up the location, I found a random photo on Flickr that indicated that there was a waterfall in that canyon!
So, the next free day, I drove down to see the canyon and waterfall. Well, both the canyon and waterfall within are protected areas due to rare and endangered species of plants, and that is why there are very few photos of either. However, if you stand at the right spot on the walking trail’s bridge, you can see the waterfall … in all of its mid-summer trickle! Needless to say, I’ll be back to photograph this location when the stream has more volume.
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I remember the first time that I experienced the “Sneak Pass”; we lived in Pensacola at the time, and the Blue Angels were flying their end-of-the-season show. The Diamond formation flies off to one side, and while you’re looking over to the left and the right, one of the Solos sneaks up behind the crowd. Even today, knowing that its going to happen, it’s still impressive!
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2022’s Chicago Air Show was rainy and humid, and Sarah and I got absolutely soaked by rain before the show. However, that did lead to some very cool vapor trails photos!
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