Re: Mother Bugger !!!

by **ourchickenshack** Fri Dec 04, 2015 7:44 am

Well since it's getting cold here we probably won't see many bugs until spring so I thought I would go ahead and post the last of the insects I photographed this summer ...

Viceroy Butterfly
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If you are familiar with Monarch Butterflies you might mistake the Viceroy for one . The difference is Monarchs don't have this extra black band that a Viceroy has ...

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Bumblebee Moth (AKA Snowberry Clearwing)

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Bumblebee

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Honey Bee

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I don't know what these are exactly but I think they're in the bee family What a Face

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and some odd moth I found in the house ...

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by **ChristianC** Fri Dec 04, 2015 8:08 am

Stunning James!

How do you know the names of all of these creatures? Do you have to look up their names after you take the photos or do you just know this stuff already? Really great photos mate.

by **ourchickenshack** Fri Dec 04, 2015 8:23 am

Thank You Christian cheers

I know a lot of them but I frequently have to look them up too What a Face

I have always been fascinated with wildlife in general so I learn a lot from nature specials and I took every science class that was offered all through school cheers

But thanks to the internet I can usually identify just about any critter I am unfamiliar with yay

Here's one more before I hit the hay ...

Golden Orb Weaver Spider

Female :
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Male :

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The Females are quite large - probably 3" leg span . The males are less then 1/2 that size What a Face

by **ChristianC** Fri Dec 04, 2015 8:36 am

Damn that is f*cking scary!

You'd love Australia mate, spiders and all kinds of crazy insects all over the place.

by **pattejan** Fri Dec 04, 2015 1:17 pm

Wow, great pics James! clapping

But I have to admit if we had spiders like that near to our flat I won't sleep with opened windows anymore! pale

by **ourchickenshack** Fri Dec 04, 2015 4:46 pm

Thanks again Guys cheers

The Golden Orb Spider is not as threatening as it looks Wink

They are just a garden spider and don't try to get indoors or even hide in dark places outside . Short of poking them with a stick , you can't even get them to react to your presence outside . Although there bite would probably be painful you would really have to antagonize them to get one . There are only 2 spiders in the USA that are considered poisonous anyway - Black Widows and Brown Recluse What a Face

by **Nico** Sun Dec 13, 2015 8:28 pm

Great pics James, love seeing pics of bugs clapping

ourchickenshack wrote: There are only 2 spiders in the USA that are considered poisonous anyway - Black Widows and Brown Recluse

Lucky we don't have either in the UK, everyone's heard of Black Widow but I've seen pics of what a Brown recluse bite looks like, affraid

by **arohk** Sun Dec 13, 2015 9:48 pm

ourchickenshack wrote:[center]Whitetail Dragonfly ...

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The dude on the right looks like it's holding landing flags to guide the rest in lol

Theses are all very cool pics and Love the story Alex Smile

by **ourchickenshack** Sun Dec 13, 2015 10:04 pm

Thanks Andy and Larry cheers

I'm glad you like insects too bowwing

Unfortunately I probably won't start seeing them again until spring but I dug through my pics and found a few older ones that I probably posted at TIG at some point but haven't posted them here . So , here's a little more - some may have already seen them but for those that haven't :

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BTW - I would love to see insects from your necks of the woods too guys - I know I not the only bugger lover around here now lol!

by **ourchickenshack** Mon Dec 14, 2015 7:33 pm

Here are a few more older pics I found that were taken a couple of seasons ago -

Much better pics of the :

Bumblebee Moth (AKA Snowberry Clearwing)

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and this big ass moth ...

Black Witch Moth
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Quite a funny story behind the night I found this moth , or should I say he found me What a Face

I had gone out to the porch to sit one cool summer night and all of a sudden this giant bird like creature came swooping at me and landed on my shoulder . I kept trying to gently brush it away but it refused to go . I would let him crawl off my hand and onto the door , or whatever I could get him to crawl on , but as soon as I would turn my back it would come land on me again Cool

Apparently it is one of the largest Moths in the world and is rarely seen north of Mexico and southern Texas - for them to make it as far north as Oklahoma usually requires them being displaced by tropical storms or hurricanes What a Face

by **ourchickenshack** Tue Jan 12, 2016 7:32 am

A Trip To The Butterfly Palace - Part 1

I completely forgot about these pictures until my wife reminded me of them tonight . We got married 8 years ago and went to Branson , Missouri for our honeymoon . One of our favorite attractions we went to was a place called The Butterfly Palace . Basically there was a good sized (very humid) room with lots of tropical flowers , orchids , vegetation and Butterflies flying all around Very Happy

All the species of butterflies and orchids were new to me so I have no idea of the names of anything Embarassed

We took a lot of pictures so I will show the pics in several posts over the next couple days and try not to bore you all at once (I prefer long drawn out torture Twisted Evil

)

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by **cantina_patron** Tue Jan 12, 2016 9:21 am

Great pictures James. I'll look forward to seeing more over the coming days. clapping

by **Commander Clint** Tue Jan 12, 2016 2:32 pm

That's fantastic. clapping

We have a Butterfly Conservatory a few kilometers from my house, and there is one in Niagara Falls, ON. as well, if you ever feel the urge to visit. nanny

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by **ourchickenshack** Tue Jan 12, 2016 8:12 pm

Thanks Guys cheers

A Trip To The Butterfly Palace - Part 2

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by **Nico** Tue Jan 12, 2016 8:22 pm

I enjoy seeing your Bug pictures James Very Happy

This Blue fella is stunning cheers

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by **ourchickenshack** Wed Jan 13, 2016 7:19 pm

A Trip To The Butterfly Palace - Part 3 (The Finale)

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Although I am sure the butterflies would feed on the flowers , there were also artificial feeding stations set up at random locations ...
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Another cool aspect of the Butterfly Palace is that they apparently raise their own butterflies rather then constantly removing them from their natural habitats in the wild ...

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The only drawback would be the pervs gathered outside the window hoping to check out a little bug porn for free cheeky

Well that's it , I hope you enjoyed your trip to The Butterfly Palace Very Happy

by **Dr Dengar** Wed Jan 13, 2016 7:46 pm

I have never seen anything like a Butterfly Palace before, but it looks great from your pictures!
Thanks for sharing, James! Very Happy

Is there any favourite butterfly for you?

by **ourchickenshack** Wed Jan 13, 2016 8:08 pm

Dr Dengar wrote:

I have never seen anything like a Butterfly Palace before, but it looks great from your pictures!
Thanks for sharing, James!

Is there any favourite butterfly for you?

Thank you Marco - really glad you like the pics Very Happy

Man ... that's a tough one , I love all of them but if I have to pick favorites I like this one for its unique shape and pattern :
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and this one because it looks evil ...

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Twisted Evil

Out of the ones I photographed in my own gardens , I really loved this Eastern Black Swallowtail ...

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by **Dr Dengar** Wed Jan 13, 2016 8:50 pm

Eastern Black Swallowtail is a beauty indeed, James! Very Happy

by **ourchickenshack** Fri Jan 15, 2016 6:50 am

Found a few more older spider photos What a Face

This one was taken on the inside of a Tulip in our backyard a couple years ago ...

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It was a pretty tiny spider cyclops

This one ought to creep out you squeamish types ( Larry Wink

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It's a mother Wolf Spider and her back is covered with her babies Twisted Evil

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She was hiding under the leaves of some of our Iris flowers and really didn't want to be photographed What a Face

by **ourchickenshack** Mon Mar 14, 2016 6:36 pm

A little worm porn for you ...

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We have a pretty healthy population of Nightcrawler's in our gardens and the other night I caught a couple in the process of doing the deed cheeky

Our nightcrawlers get quite large - the 2 pictured above were nearly 10 inches long (each !)

Quite disgusting but still interesting none the less lol!

BTW - I reworked and photoshopped all the pics in this thread to make them look more like what the natural colors really are - if you liked the pics , go back to the 1st page and take a quick look - hopefully they are nicer quality now Very Happy

by **ourchickenshack** Wed Mar 30, 2016 4:00 am

Saw my first spider this spring ...

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Not the best pics but he was a tiny little shit - maybe 3/16 " leg span at best What a Face

by **arohk** Wed Mar 30, 2016 4:26 am

Very cool pics guys I never seen a mantis or stick bug in the wild we have some interesting bugs but some I just avoid like stinkbugs Smile

.

Love the story Alex now I want to make a quest to find Arnie.

That last bug the Cicada kinda reminds me of a cricket only much bigger.

by **cantina_patron** Wed Mar 30, 2016 4:44 pm

Cool looking jumping spider James. Very Happy

I'm a little concerned about your interest in worm porn though. Suspect

(only kidding) That's not something you see every day & you captured the action beautifully. Your wildlife pics are better than some of the ones I have seen in reference books.

by **ourchickenshack** Wed Mar 30, 2016 4:57 pm

cantina_patron wrote:Cool looking jumping spider James. I'm a little concerned about your interest in worm porn though. (only kidding) That's not something you see every day & you captured the action beautifully. Your wildlife pics are better than some of the ones I have seen in reference books.

Thank you Steve cheers

If I can ever learn to use all the settings on my camera and take pictures properly I would probably do better - I still only use the auto setting Embarassed

You nailed it on the spider being a jumping one - he kept jumping on my camera lens about every 3rd picture . At 1st I thought he was just attacking the camera but , after thinking about it , he may have been seeing his reflection in the lens and might have been attacking his own reflection cheeky