Macro Mania

One of the things I love about this time of year is dusting off my macro lens to discover tiny life forms living on plants. Some of these were found in my garden and some at the arboretum during the middle of March. Hope you enjoy!

Varied Carpet Beetle which appears as a small speck until magnified.

Green Anole

Carpenter Bee on purple thistle.

Ladybug on pansy.

Anole on Bottlebrush plant.

Shield-backed bug - Pachycorinae (unsure of common name). Please click for larger image.

This insect is about 1/4" in length and appears tan with dark mottling.
The macro lens revealed tiny colored "gems" and "ruby eyes."
Isn't that cool?

Imagine

Imagine you are in your home, trying to eat a meal or just relax, and a giant woman is walking around peeping through every single window. Not only is she peeping, she is holding a strange device and pointing it at you, making loud clicking noises that sound like sonic booms to your ears. A stalker? A terrorist? What is happening???? When peeping doesn't satisfy her, she tries opening the windows and jiggling the door knobs. Your home suddenly feels like a tornado is hitting it with every wave of her arm and every exhalation of her breath. Oh dear, what to do? She says not a word, just circles and circles your home, pointing and clicking. Then she leaves.

The End.

Signed,

A confused and frightened green anole

Linking with sweet Eileen at

Saturday's Critters!

Come join the fun. :)

Also joining Camera Critters:

An Unusual Visitor

Each morning, Double D opens all the plantation shutters in the house to let the light in. On the morning of October 16, he opened the blinds facing the street and became all tongue-tied as he tried to alert me that we had a unique visitor in our front yard. I ran to the window and this is what I saw strutting around.

Across our yard he marched as though on a mission.

Hmmm....this patch of landscaping might yield a suitable snack....

Bingo! A green anole is a good start.

Down the hatch!

On to the next neighbor.

The poor anoles and other critters are innocently going about their morning
and suddenly a big yellow beak ruins their lives.

We see great egrets by water all the time; along ditches, creeks, rivers, etc. I've never seen one land in our neighborhood and go foraging in the bushes.

On an unrelated note: adios, iGoogle! I will miss you, but I won't miss the daily warning message that you'll be shutting the doors. I guess now I'll use the Chrome apps page or have 62 tabs open all the time. Sigh.

Thank you, Madge!