Janet Brien's photos with the keyword: fly

(+10 insets!) (please view large) :D I woke up to a very wet day but happily it wasn't raining when I went out on my walk. It's such fun to be outside in the springtime because the birds are so busy! It seems like every tree is a-twitter with birdies, and though I cannot see any nests, I'm sure they are there, hidden in the branches. I was delighted to discover exactly where a pair of nuthatches have theirs--it's in a hollowed spot of trunk near the top of an oak tree just off the road. I saw them leave as a pair and could see where they came from! What fun! By the way, if you've been keeping up with my bird sightings at the feeders, we've got new species showing up! Finally the lovely Lesser Goldfinches have found the feeders and we're seeing groups of up to 6 visiting! Yesterday I saw a mourning dove moving around under the feeders and when I turned away, Steve laughed out loud and said, "Another mourning dove flew in and crash-landed on the first one…RUDE!" :D I'll show these new bird species as insets below my main presentation. Today is SATURDAY SELF CHALLENGE!! YES!! *pumps fist in the air* The theme seems to be made exactly for me: "Close Up In Color". OK, I think I can do that! :D Happily, Wednesday was the first day of spring and I went on a photo safari around our property looking for all of the flowers which were in bloom. I managed to find several few new ones and I got some pictures of saxifrage too. (This is a flower I've mentioned but haven't shown any pictures until now.) It's a fairly plain flower but I'm delighted to say that I got some very nice images to share. I also got a much better picture of a flower I'd photographed in the past called Hairy Bittercress. My main image is a tiny hoverfly (.3"/8.46mm) sitting in a sea of bokeh with just its face in sharp focus. It landed on a stem right next to me as I was photographing a buttercup and wasn't bothered by me at all. This allowed me to take many dozen pictures in various apertures and different angles. In fact, I was the one that left, not him! The thing that sets this little guy apart are those incredible iridescent wings! Aren't they amazing?! This picture is magical to me because the bokeh turned the colors of its wings into fairy dust! You will find two more angles of this hoverfly as insets but I'm also presenting most of the subjects I photographed on the first day of spring. What fun it was to process them all. It was extremely satisfying to add some better pictures of species I've photographed before. I am not much of a fan of either Saxifrage or Hairy Bittercress but I actually got some attractive images of them--not easy to do, let me tell you! :) Anyway, I hope you enjoy the show! (I actually had to trim down the number of pictures…far too many so I'll post another set in a few days along with pictures of new flowers I've found since!) :) Pam, it was easy to know what to search for and I went in figuring there would be plenty of choices--hoverflies are pretty brave little guys and make fantastic subjects because they often just sit there, asking, "Do I look more beautiful from the left, or perhaps from the right? Oh? You'd like an image of me hovering? Why of course, here you go!" :D I picked your beautiful Hoverfly on Bradford Pear Blossom image… what a stunner. The blossoms are right out of Cinderella and that hoverfly is the perfect model! :) I hope you have had a good day my dear!! *BIG HUGS TO YOU*!!!! Explored on 3/24/19, highest placement, #1.

I haven't felt creative for a very long time, but yesterday I finally looked outside at the lovely spring day and felt the urge to take pictures again! I decided to take our new 5D MkIII + 100mm 2.8L macro lens for my little walk and out I went to see what I could find. I went down to our granite valley and moved along very slowly, peering closely at the saturated moss and tiny plants that were clinging to the rocks It's been very wet this year so the water has been running from our hillside, through the meadows, and down the rocks to our western seasonal stream. It's always interesting to look so closely at the world, and I found fun little plants and flower buds, a little beetle, and many other things to capture. At one point I noticed something black on the tip of a tiny blade of grass. Taking aim from a distance of a foot or so, I only got a few pictures and wasn't able to get closer before the little guy flew away, but still, I'm delighted at the detail from something that was smaller than a grain of rice!

I went out today looking for a mushroom and I found one! It was perfect and in a position that I could see under its cap! I got good pictures too... or so I thought... until I looked at them on my computer and found out that I made a Composition 101 error. When you find a non-animate subject to photograph, look at it closely from different angles to find the best position. I discovered upon looking at the pictures that the shape of the mushroom called for a shift in position and I needed get another set of pictures. LOL, live and learn! :D No worries, because before I went into the house, I went to visit the Goldenrod flowers that my friend Robin gave me, and as I approached, I saw a very pretty bumblebee crawling around with gorgeous markings on it. Then I looked again. It wasn't a bumblebee at all! It was a huge hoverfly! I've never seen one so large and pretty before, and I was lucky enough to get a few pictures before it zoomed away! Lucius Annaeus Seneca (often known simply as Seneca; ca. 4 BC – AD 65) was a Roman Stoic philosopher, statesman, dramatist, and in one work humorist, of the Silver Age of Latin literature. He was tutor and later advisor to emperor Nero. While he was forced to commit suicide for alleged complicity in the Pisonian conspiracy to assassinate Nero, the last of the Julio-Claudian emperors, he may have been innocent. His father was Seneca the Elder and his elder brother was Lucius Junius Gallio Annaeanus, called Gallio in the Bible. Wikipedia: Lucius Annaeus Seneca Explored on October 1, 2013. Highest placement, page 4.

This was what I saw when I bent down to look at these flowers. Check out this beautiful HOVER BUTT! :D This guy was about an inch long, definitely in the B-52 Bomber category! What a sound this one made, quite menacing actually, though I know it wouldn't hurt me! Thanks to Leapfrog (Art) for identifying this as a Dronefly or European Hoverfly! I really struggled about which picture should be Picture of the Day. I wanted to put this one up, but Steve thought the other one was the stronger choice. I don't know...do you have an opinion? :D

I saw this fly on a dead thistle stem while I was walking around today and it was quite happy to let me take lots of pictures! I got a bunch of very good ones but since this is just a "normal" looking fly, I'll just share the best one! Very pleased with the clarity here, it was really nice to have a bright day to help out! :)

I really wish I'd been able to take pictures of this fly in sunlight, but it was hiding behind the stem against the sun. It walked around a bit but never ventured into the sunlight. Happily you can still see very nice details! What a cool little fly! :)

Wow, isn't this a fascinating little fly? Beautiful green eyes and those WINGS! At first I thought they were physically shaped with indents in them, but I saw them in better light and could see that it has parts of the wings which are clear, and other parts with a pattern. Very beautiful!

Here's the fly buzzing from one flower to another, I love how his back legs are flung out behind him and his front legs are more out in front, like he's doing the Superman! :D

I totally deserve awards for getting non-blurry pictures of this fly! Honestly, this small fly was all over the map! It was flitting from one blossom to the next, swooping in, hovering for a nano-second, and swooping out, and then it would do it again many times at the same flower and then move around to another flower. I thought it would be a very silly challenge, so of course I had to try!

2 more pictures in notes above! :) This morning after my photo shoot, I was about to head upstairs when I noticed a dark blotch on one of the dog's water bowls. Freezing, I wondered excitedly, "Could it be what I think it is???!" Slowly peering down to get a closer look, a pair of froggy eyes peered back at me! YES!!! A PACIFIC TREE FROG!!! IN THE WATER BOWL! WOO HOO!!! I backed up and quietly got my camera, put on the macro flash and returned. I think I heard something like, "Oh no... that human is back... I know, I'll keep really still and she won't see me!!" Instead, I cooed at it, "Aww, just look at how cute you are!" as I began taking pictures. Froggy began to sink down the side of the bowl, while seeming to say, "Lady, do you realize that you're blinding me with that pair of blazing suns you have there?!" I took a bunch of pictures as he creeped around the inside of the bowl and then climbed up to the lip, preparing to leap. "That's IT! I've totally had it with you and your Blasting Light Rays of Blindness! Not cool! Not cool at all!!" Unseen by us, a fly on the wall hears the commotion. Cackling gleefully, it mumbles to itself, "Now this is one show I gotta see!" Down it zooms, into my view, and then, to my complete surprise, right on the frog's head. Froggy yells out in my general direction, "INSULT TO INJURY!!! I CRY FOUL!! First you blind me, then you follow me around this bowl and keep flashing suns at me, and NOW THERE IS A FLY ON MY HEAD!" *fly blows raspberries at the frog and me* "BWAH HAH HAH HAH HAH!!! I AM THE PHOTOBOMBING FLY, HEAR ME ROAR!!...or well, hear me blow raspberries!" *Janet clicks the shutter release exactly ONCE* The fly zooms off, cackling into the wild blue yonder and the frog leaps off the bowl, screaming, "GOODBYE, CRUEL WORLD!!!" ... and lands on the soft plush rug three inches below. I pick up the squirming froggy, who's screaming, "GET YOUR FILTHY PAWS OFF MY SILKY DRAWERS!!!" and I carefully cage it in my hands, run some water over it to get rid of the coating of dog hair and take the enraged amphibean outside where it crawls onto a leaf spluttering obcenities at me as I leave, and I coo an affectionate goodbye to my darling little friend. Living in the countryside is so much fun!! :D Sophocles (c. 497/6 BC – winter 406/5 BC) is one of three ancient Greek tragedians whose plays have survived. His first plays were written later than those of Aeschylus, and earlier than or contemporary with those of Euripides. According to the Suda, a 10th-century encyclopedia, Sophocles wrote 123 plays during the course of his life, but only seven have survived in a complete form: Ajax, Antigone, The Women of Trachis, Oedipus the King, Electra, Philoctetes and Oedipus at Colonus. For almost 50 years, Sophocles was the most-fêted playwright in the dramatic competitions of the city-state of Athens that took place during the religious festivals of the Lenaea and the Dionysia. He competed in around 30 competitions, won perhaps 24, and was never judged lower than second place. Aeschylus won 14 competitions, and was sometimes defeated by Sophocles, while Euripides won only 4 competitions. Wikipedia: Sophocles Explored on July 27, 2013. Highest placement: page 1 (#17)...

This image was taken on the MeetUp Photography Hike to Mt. Ashland on August 8, 2011.

Winner of FlickrDuel contest: +10 Wins: Macro This image was taken during the Rogue Valley Photography hike to Mt. Ashland on August 7, 2011.

Photographed on the Rogue Gorge Trail, near Union Creek, Southern Oregon

Would you just look at this cutie pie?!! This little fly is just 1/4" in diameter...the tiny blossoms of the Yarrow flower it's on are nearly larger than the fly!! I like how he's looking up at me with an indignant expression on his face, saying in a itty bitty voice, "Hey you! Buzz off! You're bugging me!" :D :D :D I was going to try to find information about this fly, but there's nothing that I could find which was interesting...I couldn't even find a nice "common" name for it, so I gave it my very own name! :)

[best appreciated at full size against black] While creeping around the meadow looking for new flowers, I noticed this fly hanging out on a grass stem. Amazingly, this is a handheld macro which actually turned out crisp, I think because it was a very bright day, YAY!! By the way, my husband thinks this fly is gross but he's so wrong! How can he speak so poorly of my little friend?!! :D This image was taken in March, 2012.

[best appreciated at full size against black] We are so incredibly fortunate to live on 26 acres in the beautiful countryside of southern Oregon. It's a dream come true for me, something I've wanted all my life. However, when you put a macro lens on a camera, suddenly it seems like 10 sqiare feet is as large as an acre...that means that when I'm nosing around our property for pictures, our 26 acres is more like 113 acres!! Well, it certainly seems like it, there's just no end to the possibilities!! Now that it's warm, there are insects EVERYWHERE. I'm hoping to get lots of great pictures in the coming months, and I took this one just the other day! Here we have a flower fly, who is standing on a buttercup petal. He just got finished getting a meal of nectar and still has a mouth full! SWALLOW, you silly fly!! :D By the way, while writing up this information, it occurred to me that I've never actually SEEN buttercup nectar before. So...I looked it up! I found a very fascinating page by a gentleman named Brian Johnston, who took many extreme close-ups of three different buttercup flowers and gives a wonderful, easy-to-understand lesson about its anatomy, all the way to the microscopic level! Have you ever seen pollen grains at a microscopic level? You will really enjoy the pictures and learning more about these lovely little flowers! A Close-up View of Three Buttercups This image was taken in April, 2012.