Anybody know what kind of beetle this is?
Seen at the Houston Arboretum and Nature Center; Houston, Texas.
Green and shiny
Tag Archives: insects
Looking into the abyss
I spotted this little guy on a bush while we were out looking at plantations in the Virginia countryside.
Given that we were primarily looking at the architecture, I’m glad I accidentally spotted him…
Group shot
On a trip to the Westminster Butterfly Pavilion a few weeks back, we saw this interesting crowd on a cluster of branches:
I’m not sure why it was such prime real estate for the little critters, but they were all putting in a good effort to chase their neighbors off the twigs. At any one time, at most 4 butterflies were on the branches while 3 or 4 were hovering nearby, trying to take their places.
What’s the buzz?
Another shot from the Butterfly Pavilion in Westminster, Colorado — this time of some honeybees in an indoor display case:
You’ve probably seen them, those honeybee cases in botanical gardens and such. The honeybees get to build their hive indoors, with a tube leading outside to an area with flowers. Meanwhile visitors get to see them hard at work.
I discovered something on this visit — regardless of the temperature indoors, the honeybees seem to be far less active when it’s cold outside. Even though I had my ring flash, I think the bees’ slow motions helped me get a nice, sharp image here. Unfortunately, you can also see a little bit of a smudge on the glass over on the left side of this shot.
Originally posted to the old blog on January 5, 2009; on Flickr over here.