Fly

Honeybee

A honeybee hard at work pollinating my oregano.  The joy of macro photography comes from the detail that’s revealed.  Individual pollen grains become visible, and in some cases at full resolution, you can even see the spiky little hooks that let them cling to everything they come into contact with.

Summer Morning

Summertime is painted in gold tones.  The light is warm, and so are the days, the temperature often rising too high for my taste.  Mornings are best, with golden light and cool air, the land coated in dew that rises as fog as the sun hits.

Least Skipper

Another member of the skipper family of butterflies, this is the aptly-named Least Skipper.  The scale is a bit lost in these photos, but the Least Skipper is the size of a dime – perhaps a nickel at most.  Very small, at any rate, with a tendency to quickly flit about in wandering patterns. There […]

Peck’s Skipper

BRENT PENNINGTON – A Peck’s Skipper butterfly feeds from allium blossoms in Scranton, PA, on 29 July 2024. BRENT PENNINGTON – A Peck’s Skipper butterfly feeds from allium blossoms in Scranton, PA, on 29 July 2024. BRENT PENNINGTON – A Peck’s Skipper butterfly feeds from allium blossoms in Scranton, PA, on 29 July 2024. BRENT […]

Sweat Bee

Unlike the last post, with the hoverflies who use visual mimicry to convince predators that they are bees and carry a nasty sting, this is in fact a true bee.  A species of sweat bee, to be specific, although I’m not sure of the exact type.  He visited several of the geranium blossoms, moving from […]

Hoverflies

Hoverflies, these tiny bee-mimics who, as their name suggests, appear to hover in place before zipping off to a new spot, are one of my favorite subjects in the garden.  Unlike many flies, they don’t seem to have any real interest in people and are never irritating.  They do love my lavender, however, and seem […]

Summer Wildflowers

BRENT PENNINGTON – Birdsfoot Trefoil blossoms at the Eales Preserve on Moosic Mountain, near Scranton, PA, on the evening of 21 July 2023. BRENT PENNINGTON – A Queen Anne’s Lace blossom begins to open, still showing pink petals around the edges, at the edge of the model airfield at Lackawanna State Park, PA, on the […]

Blackberry Blossom

Blackberry blossom in the warm evening light.  When they are first getting ready to open, there’s a faint pink tinge to the blossoms, which quickly fades to white.  Weeks later, the flower is replaced with the fruit, which is the quintessential summer berry.  I have two blackberry bushes in my garden, rescued from the home […]

Osprey

BRENT PENNINGTON – Osprey perch on a nesting platform at the Lackawac Sanctuary, at Lake Wallenpaupack, PA, on the afternoon of 31 July 2023. BRENT PENNINGTON – Osprey perch on a nesting platform at the Lackawac Sanctuary, at Lake Wallenpaupack, PA, on the afternoon of 31 July 2023. BRENT PENNINGTON – Osprey perch on a […]