beetle

Dogbane Leaf Beetle /  by Todd Henson

Dogbane leaf beetle

While hiking, my father and I were drawn to some shiny metallic colors on several leaves along the trail. When we looked closer we found beetles, very shiny and colorful beetles. Using the Seek app it would appear these are dogbane beetles (Chrysochus auratus), a native of eastern North America. I can’t tell you how great it is to photograph something and discover it’s actually a native and not an introduced species.

A stretching dogbane leaf beetle

As their name implies, they’re often found around dogbane plants, and in fact that is their main source of food. Interestingly, these plants contain toxins fatal to many creatures, and apparently they can cause cardiac arrest in people. And yet, because of a genetic mutation, the dogbane beetle is able to safely ingest these toxins. And they can even use these toxins as a defense if threatened, spraying them on any nearby predator.

Dogbane leaf beetle love

We found one pair of beetles mating, and it would seem this is not at all unusual. They reportedly mate up to once a day almost every day. Busy little beetles. But I suppose this makes sense given their lifespan is only 40 to 60 days.

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One Afternoon Six Critters /  by Todd Henson

Sometimes I’ll go hiking with one primary goal, such as checking on the pink lady’s slipper orchids, but I end up finding many other subjects, as well. I love those days, when nature just seems to jump out at you and yell, “Hey, look at me!” And of course, I listen. 😀

Below is a collection of six different critters I happened upon one afternoon while out hiking.

Common Whitetail Dragonfly

Common whitetail dragonfly

Dragonflies are back. I just love watching and trying to photograph them. I was only carrying my 105mm macro lens, so I didn’t have a lot of reach, but with a little patience I was able to capture one image of this dragonfly when it rested on a log nearby before flying off once again because I was too close.

Six-spotted Tiger Beetle

Six-spotted tiger beetle

Six-spotted tiger beetle. For this photo I used multiple images to create an unplanned focus stacked image with more depth of field than any of the individual shots.

These are very distinctive beetles and fairly easy to see on a sunny day because their metallic green body really shines and they move around very quickly. Motion and color are two of the elements that help me find subjects and this beetle has both. They are usually very skittish and run or fly off when I get too close, which is usually too far away for a decent photo. But in this case I managed to approach one slowly enough, and was actually able to shade it with my shadow so the bright sun didn’t cause glaring reflections on the metallic body. These are fascinating beetles.

Speckled Renia Moth

Speckled Renia moth

This is a very small moth, one I see around quite often but am rarely able to approach close enough as they either blend in so well I don’t see them or they flit off before I get close enough for a photo (this seems to be a common theme). But I happened to see the motion of this one as it flew in front of me and noticed where it landed. So I got down on my knees, slowly approached it and managed to capture this view.

Eastern Fence Lizard

Eastern fence lizard from above

The side of an eastern fence lizard

Another skittish creature that often blends in well with its surroundings is the eastern fence lizard. This particular one has lost its tail, which is usually much longer. It didn’t seem to notice me when I happened to be right beside it while it was on the side of a downed tree so I was able to capture a nice closeup with the macro lens. I then tried to slowly move above it to get a side view but only captured this one image before it turned its head, saw me, and ran off.

Eastern Tailed-blue Butterfly

Eastern tailed-blue butterfly facing left

Eastern tailed-blue butterfly facing right

This is a very small butterfly, another that I’m rarely able to approach close enough. But as happened a lot on this trip I was able to approach it slow enough to capture a couple images while it rotated itself on the rock it had landed on. This one doesn’t have much of the tail from its name. I don’t know if it wore off, or perhaps this is a young one, or they vary from individual to individual, or I’ve completely mis-identified the species.

Black-and-gold Flat Millipede

Black-and-gold flat millipede all straightened out

Black-and-gold flat millipede moving over some leaves

I found this millipede directly in front of me on the trail making its way across it. Thankfully I was able to capture some photos that are reasonably sharp despite the motion. I love the colors on this one. I don’t know if I’d seen this species before, but have now seen a couple more since then.

Have you ever seen any of these critters? What did you think of them?

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