Janet Brien's photos with the keyword: Mexican whorled milkweed

1 picture in notes above! This beautiful red and black wasp is one I often find visiting flowers. It's not aggressive but it does move around a lot, which makes taking pictures a challenge. This one was actually moving slowly and stopped a lot so I managed to get a whole set of wonderful pictures! Thanks once again to Art (Leapfrog) for helping me to identify this lovely insect! :)

2 more pictures in notes above! :) Would you just look at these adorable little cutie pies?!! Now repeat after me: AWWWWWWWWWWWWWW!!! :D :D I had a difficult time seeing where to focus because they were so impossibly tiny! However, I managed to get lots of really neat pictures and I thought the best way to share them would be in a collage! A couple of them I left as single pictures because I thought they were best appreciated at a larger size. I hope you like them! :D

3 pictures in notes above! :) Talk about amazing luck!! I was on my way the large Milkweed patch to check on the caterpillars when I thought, "I should take a quick peek at the small patch...what's another couple of minutes to see if there is anything special?" GOOD THING I CHECKED!! This pair of mating Clio Tiger moths were resting under a stem and although the wind was blowing them around a bit, I managed to get a nice picture to share! I went back to check on them about an hour later and they had either separated and flown away or they crawled down out of sight. I'm so glad I found them before they disappeared!!

It takes several hours before these moth's wings flatten out and dry properly. Watching carefully, I could see this moth slowly pumping the wings, working blood into them to help inflate them. I coaxed this moth onto a milkweed pod so that I could take pictures. Thankfully it only needed to crawl a few steps, as I didn't want to disturb it. A few pictures later, I set it down on the pod and left it in peace. :)

HAH! I finally got a view of this beetle's back! Isn't it pretty? If you can believe it, this beetle's carapace appears perfectly smooth with the naked eye, but with a macro lens, it looks like it's covered with velvet! AMAZING!!! By the way, the two small eyes you see on its head are called ocelli, and are a second pair of simple eyes which detect light and movement. Not all beetles possess these extra eyes, but did you know that spiders have 4 pairs of ocelli, and do not have compound eyes like most insects? If you would like to know more about ocelli, wiki has a great page here! Wikipedia: Ocelli

What a gorgeous little beetle! I had to laugh because it was playing the game of "Hide Behind the Stem" with me...as I moved around to get a side or back view, it would move around the stem to put the stem between us. I'd try one direction, and then I'd try the other direction...what a dance it was! I think anyone who could have seen me would have died laughing! :D

I was walking by and saw this wasp, so I took a picture...I have already photographed this type of wasp on milkweed before but I just couldn't resist. I'm glad I got the picture because it turned out quite nicely!

I liked the way this pair was about the fly away, only stuck at the top! Behind in bokeh you can see the remaining half of a pod that's already opened and released its seeds.

3 images above in a note! I found these Milkweed seeds bursting out of their pod and just about to fly away. I thought it would be fun to share these two pictures with you so you can see what happens after the flowers fade! :)

I absolutely LOVE the shape of these flowers. They look like twinkling stars from above, and badminton birdies from the side! The tones and shades are just amazing to look at, and on top of that, this flower attracts every insect under the sun!

This blossom had sunlight shining on it through the trees and behind it are bunches of dancing flowers!