Day 237: Fly Appreciation 101

 Agriculture and Husbandry, Backyard Nature, Insects, Natural History, Piney Woods Church Road 365 Project, Sense of Place  No Responses »
Aug 252014
 

I do not usually like flies, and I have largely avoided photographing them along Piney Woods Church Road. For one who espouses an appreciation for the commonplace, though, flies seem about as everyday as one might imagine.  Still, there are so many unpleasant flies out there:  deer flies, black flies, house flies, to name a few.  For some reason, though, I was able to put aside my distaste long enough to take this close-up of a fly on Hoary Mountainmint today.  Its visit offers a first lesson in fly appreciation.  It turns out that this fly is among the “good guys” of family Tachinidae, also known as Tachinid Flies.  They are predators, feeding on myriad garden pests, including caterpillars, beetles, sawflies, and borers.  Their larval stage is a bit grisly, though.  Host insects consume Tachinid Fly eggs laid on plants, and then the eggs hatch inside the insects and slowly feed on them.  Still, I will try to remember these flies with gratitude the next time I enjoy something fresh from the garden.

 

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Day 235: Dew Drops and Parasols

 Backyard Nature, Piney Woods Church Road 365 Project, Sense of Place  No Responses »
Aug 232014
 

Knowing today was going to be the steamiest day of the summer so far, I set out mid-morning on my daily Piney Woods Church Road adventures.  Beside the horse pasture fence, just along the edge of the roadway, I encountered a number of tiny parasol-like mushrooms, Parasola plicatilis, the Japanese Parasol or Pleated Inky Cap.  A common mushroom of urban and suburban lawns, it has a charming elegance that I found captivating.  My favorite photograph of the session was this one, in which I was able to use a fairly small aperture (f/6.3) yet, by turning my camera just so, bring both the mushroom cap and two tiny dew drops on a nearby grass blade into focus.

 

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Approaching Sunset, Fire Ant Mesa

 Backyard Nature, Golden Hour, Sense of Place  No Responses »
Aug 222014
 

I miss the American Southwest — the stark expanses of rock and sky, the bright red rock layers, the mesas and canyons. Today I was able to capture a fleeting taste of that along Piney Woods Church Road. As the sun sank low in the sky, I took this photograph of an old fire ant mound (I did not test it for current occupancy.) evocative of a western mesa.  Not quite Utah, but not quite the Eastern Woodlands, either.

 

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Morning Work

 Backyard Nature, Insects, Natural History, Sense of Place  No Responses »
Aug 212014
 

For some reason, I dragged my heels this morning as I set out for Piney Woods Church Road. Maybe the reluctance was a product of the time of day — a busy Thursday schedule compelled me to choose the late morning for my outing.  Maybe it was the building heat, with temperatures rising into the low 90s.  For whatever reason, my enthusiasm was dampened as I started off down the road.  I found some new blossoms I had not photographed before, but mostly nondescript (even by my open-minded standards).  Then I began noticing all the pollinators busily roaming from flower to flower — sweat bees and solitary wasps.  The sweat bees seemed to be focused on pollen collection, while the wasps appeared to be gathering nectar.  I suddenly realized that we all had our work to do — pollinating or photographing, it makes little difference — to keep the world going.  They had their morning work, and I had mine.

 

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Day 233: A Mysterious Mason Wasp

 Backyard Nature, Insects, Native Plants, Piney Woods Church Road 365 Project, Sense of Place  No Responses »
Aug 212014
 

On my morning walk down Piney Woods Church Road today, I encountered this wasp with the most slender waist that I have ever seen, apparently gathering nectar from a Hoary Mountainmint.  I mistook it for a Thin-Waisted Wasp at first, but an expert at BugGuide on Facebook set me to rights.  It is actually a species of mason wasp, Zethus spinipes.  Researching this species further, I was astonished to find that relatively little is known about it.  Supposedly it nests in abandoned burrows of other insects, but this has not been confirmed.  One source, a web page from the Extension Service of the University of Florida, even cited a source on the genus dating back to 1894, though noting that it was likely in error.  If anyone is looking for a biology research project at the MS or PhD level, Zethus spinipes is certainly available.  

 

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