a closeup of a fortnight lily surrounded by the plant's deep-green fronds. The petals are creamy white, and some are translucent near the heart of the flower. Three petals, evenly spaced, bear dark brown spots, like beauty marks, outlined in orange-gold. There's a glimpse of a dark-brown anther.

a fortnight lily blossom, Van Nuys, CA

#flowers
#gardens
#eastcoastkin
#closeup
#macro

A house finch with red head and breast crouches in the thick green foliage of a pomegranate bush. There are a couple orange pomegranate blossoms near him.

A house finch conducting recognizance

In keeping with today’s #BirdOfTheDay theme, #Petals&Perches

He was plotting a charge at a crowded bird feeder from a pomegranate bush

#photography
#wildlife
#nature
#eastcoastkin

Remarkable

Macro photo of a dragonfly. Its face, antennas, and one leg are in focus and its wings are visible out to the sides.

Macro shot of a dragonfly face #wildlife #WildlifePhotography #BlueTue #nature #photography #PNW #dragonfly #Odonata

That's elegantly shot.

That's a good shot. May I know your photo setup?

a closeup of a codling moth, partially obscured by dried dribbles of glue at the edge of a light trap funnel. The moth is light brown, with a single fanlike antenna showing.

a closeup of an unidentified salmon-colored moth that seems to have retracted its head under its body and tucked its antennae under its wings

a photo to illustrate a modification to Adam Fritz' light trap design. A plastic arch over the funnel directs the black light downward

At night, the black light illuminates the light trap funnel with an eerie blue glow

I took up Adam Fritz' very good instructions on building a light trap.

#MagaMonday
#Insects
#Bugs

The first night I caught a codling moth. I've directed the light more into the trap and away from my sloppy gluing. That seemed to work.
I can't get a consistent ID on the second moth.

That's a great shot

a closeup of a honeybee weaving through spindly, rhubarb-red stalks. A flamboyant red-and-yellow blossom, with long red stamens, takes up the right of the frame. The buds look like slightly-mouthed red-hots candies, or maybe fists in boxing gloves, just off bright red and explosive looking. Cherry bombs?

a honeybee flying among Pride-of-Barbados buds, Los Angeles

#MacroMonday
#Insects

Again, this is very helpful. I really appreciate it.

I'm still learning Bluesky manners, so hope it's OK to follow up. I read your article with interest. I do have one question: why suspend the blacklight above the trap instead of putting it inside?
My only surmise is that that might be too hard on the insects, depriving them of sleep.

People in Los Angeles always rave about how great the weather is.
If anybody asks me, I often reply that I might be able to stand it here if only it would snow.
I really miss icy spring.

A male drone fly works on his back inside a Tecoma 'Bells of Fire' blossom. His feet are pressed against the upper wall of t he blossom. He is just at the edge of where the flash can reach, and his head, partially turned away from the lens, is also partially obscured by the blossom's stigma. Slightly converging dark orange ands in the underlyiing petals race past him, like a current.

a drone fly at work in the heart of a flower

#MacroMonday
#Insects

May I ask your technique and photo setup?

A top-down view of the weevil, on a plain pale background. Its body is covered in scales, mostly dark, with several bright white patches.

Today's new species is courtesy of my wife ❤️, who found this very lovely weevil on her sandwich at lunchtime, & kindly passed it over to me: Mogulones asperifoliarum, which was likely carried in from the garden where it feeds on forget-me-nots & related plants. #beetles #weevils

Good shot. How did you light it?

Thank you. This is very helpful.

a closeup of a green bottle fly on some cream-and-coral St. Catherine's lace blossoms

a more forthright fly visiting bee territory, Los Angeles

#MacroMonday
#bugs
#macrophotography

Unlike the drone fly, this green bottle just barges into the St. Catherine's lace that the bees have so enjoyed. I wonder how they feel about the traces of dog dung he undoubtedly brought along.

At a tubular bird feeder, a house finch is shown in mid-flight, looming over another finch, which quails but barely retains her hold on a feeding peg, as a third looks on from the other side of the feeder, a sunflower seed in her beak.

Not friendly

In keeping with the #BirdOfTheDay theme for today, #FeederFriends

I guess I'd hoped that I'd make some avian friends by putting up my feeder, but what I have is a horde opportunists.
It's like a junior high school lunchroom.
I'm not disappointed. I like them anyway.

Your shots are delightful.
I'd be glad to know your equipment setup and your method for getting these bugs to sit still for a photo.

a closeup of a male drone fly perched on the inside of an electric magenta poppy blossom. The tiny insect, maybe about 1/8" long, closely resembles a miniature honeybee. It is turning toward the flower's stamens, with their golden filaments and dark-brown anthers. The blossom's yellow style, out of focus, rises toward the lens from the center of the stamens.

a fly impersonating a bee

#MacroMonday

This male drone fly is about 1/8" long

a headshot in profile of a turken, a bird bread to be featherless from the shoulders up. The turken is standing next to some farm machinery,

a turken, Addison, Vt.

#BirdOfTheDay
#Headshots

Contrary to what I was told, this bird is 100% chicken, not a chicken-turkey hybrid

a 3x view from above of a honeybee amid the bristles of a bottlebush flower. The filaments of the blossom are blood red and the anthers are golden

a 2x view of two honeybees working on a bottlebrush blossom. One has her back to the camera and has buried her head in the flower. The other, in profile, bends intently to her work. The filaments of the blossom are blood red and the anthers are golden.

a 2x view of a honeybee approaching the camera through the bristles of a bottlebush flower. The filaments of the blossom are blood red and the anthers are golden

California honeybees' joyous harvest

#MacroMonday
These bees were excited at their find.
For them, bottlebrush flowers must be like rivers used to be, where a person could catch fish by hand, they were so teeming with life.

a pigeon-size bird with mottled gray markings and a delicate black bill, standing in the greenish waters of Del Rey Lagoon in Los Angeles. Supposedly, this is a Lesser Yellowlegs, but this bird's legs are gray.

a lesser yellowlegs?

Lesser than whom? And where are the yellow legs? Nevertheless, that's what the Internet says.

a second photo for today's #BirdOfTheDay theme, #Reflections

Dunno if you thought about this, but the shot could have been a variation on the #Reflections theme for Bird of the Day today. I had something vaguely similar -- one boil recoiling from another's charge -- but I like this better

a brown pelican skims inches above gently rolling blue ocean waves. The wind-ruffled water casts back a fragmented reflection.

a brown pelican over gentle swells, Playa del Rey, CA

In keeping with today's #BirdOfTheDay theme, #Reflections

a closeup of an assassin bug traversing the orange-and-gold petals of a Tecoma 'Bells of Fire' blossom, pale protuberant eyes and long antennae at the ready

an assassin bug traversing a Tecoma 'Bells of Fire' blossom

#MacroMonday

a honeybee wades toward the camera through a bundle of linen-white St. Catherine's lace blossoms. The bee's proboscis is extended into the flowers as she advances. These small flowers, with their pink stamens, must be a feast for her

a honeybee wades through St. Catherine's lace blossoms, Los Angeles

a closeup of a blood-trumpet blossom, with magenta petals and a luminous orange-and-gold heart

a blood-trumpet blossom, Los Angeles