insect

Giant Leopard Moth /  by Todd Henson

A giant leopard moth on my tree

In early June (2025) I noticed a white spot on the tree in my front yard. Looking closer I found a giant leopard moth resting on the bark, so I grabbed my camera and set about photographing it. I ended up coming back a little later after the sun had moved enough to put the moth into shadow, which helped avoid completely blowing out the white of the moth.

A side view of the giant leopard moth

I wouldn’t really consider the moth a giant, though it was a large one, being perhaps an inch long. After a little research I learned the females grow to about this length while the males can grow to about 2 inches in length. When they fly they have a wingspan of about 3 inches. They’re native to portions of North America.

Face to face with a giant leopard moth

It’s easy to see why they’re called leopard moths because of their spots, both black spots and white ones with a black ring, all set against a white body. It’s a beautiful moth.

Photographing the giant leopard moth from the shadowed side

The next morning the moth was gone, which reinforces what I’d learned about their nocturnal nature and how they avoid flying before nightfall. I never did see this one fly, but I enjoyed photographing it.

An angled view of the giant leopard moth

A couple weeks ago my father and I visited a farmers market in Standardsville, a small town a little west of here, where we saw a booth with photos of several types of moths, one of which was the giant leopard moth. The display was informing people of the problems associated with the very invasion spotted lanternfly and trying to help people learn to identify it. The giant leopard moth and several other species were shown as examples of good species, native to the area, but that are sometimes confused with the lanternfly. It was interesting timing seeing this display as I had so recently seen the leopard moth and was actively working on this post.

Do you enjoy these posts?

Sign up to receive periodic emails with updates and thoughts. Don’t worry, I won’t spam you. And please consider purchasing artwork or products from my online store, and using my affiliate links in the sidebar to the right when shopping online.

I appreciate your support!

Mining Bee in Its Nest /  by Todd Henson

A first view of a mining bee in its nest in the ground

Mining bees are interesting little creatures. I’ve seen them in several locations. If you find them at the right time, in early spring, you may see dozens or hundreds of little holes in the ground, possibly with little mounds of dirt around them, and bees flying just above the holes. Each hole is the nest of a single mining bee. It will collect pollen and nectar and store that in a chamber in the underground nest, and it will lay an egg there. Thankfully, mining bees are not at all aggressive and the most difficult thing about them can be trying not to step on the bees or their nests when they happen to dig in the dirt of the park trail.

A closer shaded view of the mining bee in its nest

These photos show one of a large number of mining bees we found in Seven Bends State Park in Virginia on April 2nd of 2023, right on the trail. The first photo above was created in full sunlight. For the rest I shaded the nest to even out the light and shadows.

The two photos above are normal photos. But the two photos below are focus stacked, which means I took several photos of the same scene with the focus shifted just a little. I then use Adobe Photoshop to stack them together, allowing it to pick the areas most in focus from each photo. The end result, hopefully, is an image with more of the subject or scene in focus. As you can see, though, when the subject moves it can affect the focus stack. Someone with more Photoshop skills might be able to mitigate this problem, though I did find it a fascinating way of seeing the small movements of the bee while watching me from its nest.

A focus stacked view of the mining bee in its nest, attempting to capture more of the bee in focus

A focus stacked closeup of the mining bee in its nest. Notice how the antennae moved resulting in ghosted images of them.

Do you enjoy these posts?

Sign up to receive periodic emails with updates and thoughts. Don’t worry, I won’t spam you. And please consider purchasing artwork or products from my online store, and using my affiliate links in the sidebar to the right when shopping online.

I appreciate your support!

A Visitor To The Wild Potato Vine /  by Todd Henson

A visitor to the wild potato vine.

In mid-July my father and I walked around the shoreline trail of Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge. I’m often drawn to the various flowers, many of which look very similar. In this case we found what I believe was a wild potato vine (Ipomoea pandurata), a member of the morning glory family, with their beautiful white flowers and deep pink interior. 

As I was attempting to find a decent view of a flower an insect, I believe some kind of bee, flew right into the one I was looking at. I then focused all my attention on that flower, getting as close as I could and attempting to see into the dark interior of the flower. The insect had flown in head first but by the time I had my camera positioned it had turned itself around and was facing me. I’ve photographed insects like this a few times and always enjoy the view it presents. Notice how the insect has its legs splayed out pushing against the flower to position itself.

Below is a slightly wider view to show the flower with the vines and leaves, and if you look closely, the tail end of the insect.

A wider view of the wild potato vine flower with the bee inside.

Tech Talk

For those technically inclined, I was photographing with my 105mm macro lens. It was an overcast day so I had my ISO up a bit to better see into the darker regions and still keep a high enough shutter speed for me to handhold.

For the wider view I used an ISO of 800, an aperture of f/6.3 and a shutter speed of 1/640. These were general middle-of-the-road settings while I was exploring the scene.

When I moved closer to see inside the flower it might have made sense to raise the ISO to better see the much darker region, but I didn’t think of that and was working fast before the insect left the flower, so I stayed at ISO 800. I was much closer to the subject so I had the foresight to stop down my aperture to f/9 to try to get more of the insect and interior in focus. The closer you get the shallower the depth of field. Stopping down the aperture helps get a wider depth of field with more in focus, and at this close range the depth of field is very small even with smaller apertures. But stopping down the aperture requires a slower shutter speed (ah, physics!), in this case 1/320 second, which I hoped was still fast enough for a sharp image.

In the end I’m pleased with how it turned out.

Do you enjoy these posts?

Sign up to receive periodic emails with updates and thoughts. Don’t worry, I won’t spam you. And please consider purchasing artwork or products from my online store, and using my affiliate links in the sidebar to the right when shopping online.

I appreciate your support!