Friday Night Photos Small World Edition

Submitted by Socialprogressive on Fri, 05/03/2024 - 5:00pm

Happy Friday everyone. I hope everybody is doing well. Post any photos, meme's, or music you like.

My goto place for bug photography is the Balboa Park rose garden when the roses are in bloom. Now that they're in bloom again after being cut back for the winter, I decided it was time to throw the macro lens on the camera and head to the garden for a little bug hunting. You never know from one day to the next what you might find there. Unfortunately, when I was there on Tuesday I didn't find much, and most of what I did find were flies. Even the usual suspects (bees and lady bugs) were few and far between. Oh well, hopefully I'll have better luck next time.

Tags:

Phriday Fotos

Vote

Comments

Submitted by QMS on Fri, 05/03/2024 - 6:12pm

Hey social

-
-
good finds with the few available bugs

speaking of blooms, every year when the
quince bush blossoms, within a couple days
the hummingbirds arrive. Like clockwork.
They act like they are in sync somehow?

cheers!

Submitted by Socialprogressive on Fri, 05/03/2024 - 6:44pm

Hi, QMS.

@QMS
The Hummingbirds returning to the Quince bush each year sounds like the Swallows returning to San Juan Capistrano around the same time every year.

—

I'm great at multi-tasking. I can waste time, be unproductive, and procrastinate all at the same time.

Submitted by humphrey on Fri, 05/03/2024 - 7:21pm

Nice images.

It is a good thing that they are smaller in reality than they appear on my screen otherwise they would be considered sci-fi monsters.

Submitted by Socialprogressive on Fri, 05/03/2024 - 8:16pm

Hi, humphrey

@humphrey
I think I'd prefer giant ants or spiders over the human monsters that currently plague our world.

—

I'm great at multi-tasking. I can waste time, be unproductive, and procrastinate all at the same time.

Submitted by orlbucfan on Sat, 05/04/2024 - 7:58am

@Socialprogressive Me, too.

@Socialprogressive Me, too.

—

Inner and Outer Space: the Final Frontiers.

Submitted by enhydra lutris on Sat, 05/04/2024 - 8:18pm

I word; "THEM" n/t

@Socialprogressive

—

That, in its essence, is fascism--ownership of government by an individual, by a group, or by any other controlling private power. -- Franklin D. Roosevelt --

Submitted by janis b on Fri, 05/03/2024 - 8:48pm

Hi Social

What strange creatures insects are. Thank you for showing so clearly their amazing variety. Is the first insect the same as the metallic green, red-eyed one in the second photo?

The music you chose buzzes like busy insects.

Thanks Social, it's always a treat.

Submitted by Socialprogressive on Fri, 05/03/2024 - 9:07pm

Thank you, Janis

@janis b
As far as I know, there's no relation between the two flies unless they're fraternal twins, which would explain why they don't look the same.

—

I'm great at multi-tasking. I can waste time, be unproductive, and procrastinate all at the same time.

Submitted by janis b on Fri, 05/03/2024 - 9:11pm

Hi all

Surprises in the mulch

Taro flower and leaves ...

Winter was definitively announced yesterday with a sharp drop in temperature, accompanied by rain. Although today is sunny and warmer, the air and light are more winter like.

I’m glad I have plenty of firewood.

Enjoy the weekend

Submitted by Socialprogressive on Fri, 05/03/2024 - 9:51pm

Hi, Janis

@janis b
Is the surprise in the mulch a fungus? They look like they could be starfish. How big is the Taro? The leaves look huge. Stay warm and dry.

—

I'm great at multi-tasking. I can waste time, be unproductive, and procrastinate all at the same time.

Submitted by janis b on Fri, 05/03/2024 - 10:05pm

Hi Social

@Socialprogressive

It is a fungi. The Taro leaves are very big, about 20"x14".

Time to start the fire.

Submitted by Socialprogressive on Fri, 05/03/2024 - 10:50pm

20"x 14" is a pretty good sized leaf

@janis b
With all the rain you get you could use it as a hat in a pinch if you needed to.

—

I'm great at multi-tasking. I can waste time, be unproductive, and procrastinate all at the same time.

Submitted by janis b on Fri, 05/03/2024 - 10:28pm

A hat would work

@Socialprogressive

It's not quite umbrella size.

Submitted by dystopian on Fri, 05/03/2024 - 10:18pm

Hi Janis

@janis b Hi ya,

Neat pics.

Love the fungi! There is a group called 'earth stars' which they remind me of. Mine here grow on rocky limestone soils and have less 'petals', but very similar in general.

thanks for the pics.

I try to be a fun guy.

—

We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them.
Look deep into nature, and then you will understand everything better.
both - Albert Einstein

Submitted by janis b on Fri, 05/03/2024 - 10:30pm

gi, you do?

@dystopian

Have fun and be well

Submitted by dystopian on Fri, 05/03/2024 - 10:22pm

Hi pixelators

Hi all, Hey SP!

Great bug shots man! As always.

I do like those Stilt- or Long-legged Flies. As the metallic green one. There are a couple different genera, neat flies.

Janis, those two flies are unrelated genera.

Thanks for the pics and OT SP! You can bug me anytime.

Back in a flash with some pixels...

—

We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them.
Look deep into nature, and then you will understand everything better.
both - Albert Einstein

Submitted by dystopian on Fri, 05/03/2024 - 10:33pm

size is relative

Hi all,

Hope it's all good out there!

This is only about 5" and change and a bit over a quarter ounce. But it would love to dine on yer bugs SP!

Some consider it the most beautiful wood-warbler in America. They breed here (east half of US - climax old-growth forests only - why declining) but winter in Mexico and central America. This is one of my personal favorite birds, and which is threatened and declining actually. They are always scarce, even where they are found, and a treat to see. This one showed up at our birdbath a few days ago.

Golden-winged Warbler, male

might need to update my avatar...

Happy trails all!

—

We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them.
Look deep into nature, and then you will understand everything better.
both - Albert Einstein

Submitted by Socialprogressive on Fri, 05/03/2024 - 10:49pm

Hi, dystopian

@dystopian
Beautiful looking visitor at the birdbath. Most of the Warblers I see here are Yellow-rumped Warblers.

—

I'm great at multi-tasking. I can waste time, be unproductive, and procrastinate all at the same time.

Submitted by janis b on Fri, 05/03/2024 - 10:54pm

Thanks d

@dystopian

I love warblers, and yours is very beautiful. I see only one variety, the grey warbler which is the smallest bird in NZ. It weighs just under a quarter ounce and is just over 4" long. It is very sweet.

Submitted by Dawn's Meta on Sat, 05/04/2024 - 7:53am

Hi Friday Photo people.

There is so much good stuff here to respond to/about.

First, while we heard the Hoopoe for one day at the end of several very warm weeks, as is more usual in the last decade, the early too warm Spring has returned to late Winter early Spring, very cool and cold; wet and dark. The Hoopoe, the Cuckoo, insects and flowers more or less stopped in their tracks.

But wonder of wonders a large, secretive gorgeous bird with a silvery song showed up. In French, Loriot.

Janis, I've never seen a Taro, but we have a wild plant that is almost a miniature of your purple Taro, but in green. The leaves, flowers are so similar I wonder if it's an Arum. In the Fall the single flower stem becomes a cluster of red berries.

Arum maculatum

We now have both large black flies and the multitudes of small cow pie flies, beetles, gueps (wasps), small butterflies and many more critters.
Orange Tip Butterfly

SP - I look forward to your Friday Photos each week. Your photo skills are as they say here "super" (sou-pair).

—

A society grows great when old men plant trees in whose shade they know they shall never sit. Allegedly Greek, but more possibly fairly modern quote.

Consider helping by donating using the button in the upper left hand corner. Thank you.

Submitted by Socialprogressive on Sat, 05/04/2024 - 10:00am

Bonjour DM

@Dawn's Meta
Hope all is well for you on the other side of the pond.
Merci for the images and wonderful video of the Golden Oriole. Around here from April to August we have Bullock's and Hooded Orioles that travel north from Mexico to spend their breeding season here in the western US. I hear them chattering in the trees all day.

—

I'm great at multi-tasking. I can waste time, be unproductive, and procrastinate all at the same time.

Submitted by janis b on Sat, 05/04/2024 - 9:20pm

Thanks for the photos Dawn

@Dawn's Meta

Nice twittering you have around you.

The butterfly photo is so beautiful. Its soft pastelness (and growing in France) makes me think of Monet.

The flower and the leaves in the background definitely look like an Arum family plant, which both Taros and Calla Lilies are a part of.

I think it might be this one which has lots of different interesting names ...

About this cultivar:

Arum maculatum is a common woodland plant species of the Araceae family. It is widespread across most of Europe, as well as Turkey and the Caucasus. It is known by an abundance of common names including snakeshead, adder's root, arum, wild arum, arum lily, lords-and-ladies, devils and angels, cows and bulls, cuckoo-pint, Adam and Eve, bobbins, naked girls, naked boys, starch-root, wake robin, friar's cowl, sonsie-give-us-your-hand, jack in the pulpit, cheese and toast, and if those are not suggestive enough, the willy-lily. The names unsuprisingly refer to the plant's likeness to male and female genitalia symbolising copulation. There is a wealth of folklore about this plant dating back thousands of years.

https://www.ballyrobertgardens.com/products/arum-maculatum

Submitted by Dawn's Meta on Sun, 05/05/2024 - 4:02am

Thanks so much for the interesting info and names.

@janis b @janis b When we see things we don't know we first go for a Latin name then show locals phone photos from image banks. Now I'm really curious to learn French names for A. maculatum or italicum.

ETA: had never seen that Butterfly before, but there it was on some wild Geraniums near my clothesline. Didn't have my phone with me so no photo. But I'll take my pphone whenever I go outside. You never know.

—

A society grows great when old men plant trees in whose shade they know they shall never sit. Allegedly Greek, but more possibly fairly modern quote.

Consider helping by donating using the button in the upper left hand corner. Thank you.

Submitted by janis b on Tue, 05/07/2024 - 2:55am

You're welcome Dawn

@Dawn's Meta

I know you enjoy the nature around you, and I enjoy however you share it.

Submitted by orlbucfan on Sat, 05/04/2024 - 8:23am

Hola everyone from the getting hot

and muggy Sandbar Peninsula. I listened to an interesting live podcast c/o Yale Climate Connections on climate change yesterday. They and the NHC are my go-tos for storm season which is approaching--DOUBLE UGH!!! There was the moderator and 3 climate/weather experts. They have been able to scientifically prove the natural connection between human-caused atmospheric pollution and the increase in rain events. The other climate change aspects are being worked on. Geez, all you have to do is look at the horror show going down in Houston. Great photos and tune selection. My fave is the ladybug. When you can make a spider look good, you have talent. The Orange Tip Butterfly is an Honorable Mention. Rec'd!!

—

Inner and Outer Space: the Final Frontiers.

Submitted by QMS on Sat, 05/04/2024 - 9:28am

Had an interesting telepathic exchange

@orlbucfan
-
-
with a spider last night. It came up and sat by my feet as I was reading.
Several turns around the up and back down, it just perched there.
Like it knew it had my attention. Maybe wondering what I was?
After awhile, it moved to the other side of the chair, sat and pondered.
Wasn't afraid of me, nor I with it. Not afraid of the arachnid species.
Could have sworn a tiny bit of my brain was picking up on something.
Eventually, it skittered off and hid somewhere. Could have been about
reading a sci-fi book about Mars? Spiders from Mars as Bowie would say.

Submitted by orlbucfan on Sat, 05/04/2024 - 11:17am

@QMS Spiders creep me out.

@QMS @QMS Spiders creep me out. Lifelong fear of them even though I know they are perfectly evolved to survive. Nothing else really fazes me including coral snakes and cockroaches. I'm a regular on here, and I've seen some spider photos that were terrific, but still raised the hairs on my head.

—

Inner and Outer Space: the Final Frontiers.

Submitted by TheOtherMaven on Sat, 05/04/2024 - 7:39pm

No accounting for phobias

@orlbucfan
Spiders don't bother me, snakes don't either (unless I come upon one by surprise). But poison ivy - BRRR! (In my case the phobia has a realistic underpinning - I used to be extremely allergic to urushiol and could even get a bad reaction from petting a cat or touching something that had been in contact with it.)

Rationally I know it can't come after me like Triffids - but even seeing a picture of the plant creeps me out.

—

There is no justice. There can be no peace.

Submitted by janis b on Sat, 05/04/2024 - 9:45pm

Hi other maven

@TheOtherMaven

Growing up in the NY/NE I have had many uncomfortable encounters with poison ivy. Nettles are no fun either. The next time you come across a poison ivy plant you could introduce yourself and make friends from a distance, in hope that it won’t bother you. It can't hurt to ; ).

I enjoy your contributions wherever I find them here, thanks.

Submitted by on the cusp on Sun, 05/05/2024 - 12:20am

copperhead bite victim here.

@TheOtherMaven Be very afraid of snakes! 5 years later, my foot is still painful. It was hurting me today,right where the bastard got me.

—

"We'll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false." ---- William Casey, CIA Director, 1981

Submitted by TheOtherMaven on Sun, 05/05/2024 - 9:19am

Sneaky snakes :-P

@on the cusp

—

There is no justice. There can be no peace.

Submitted by kelly on Mon, 05/06/2024 - 9:09pm

sorry to hear

@on the cusp always wanted to have some of those.
very pretty snakes on occasion. huge nuisance I'm sure.

Submitted by Socialprogressive on Sat, 05/04/2024 - 10:25am

Hi, orlbucfan

@orlbucfan
I don't know if anybody can make a spider look good.
It's rather sad that some people still think that 8 billion people polluting the atmosphere on our little speck of dirt has no relationship to climate change. Hope the climate change doesn't wreak to much havoc on the sandbar penninsula this season.

—

I'm great at multi-tasking. I can waste time, be unproductive, and procrastinate all at the same time.

Submitted by janis b on Sat, 05/04/2024 - 9:34pm

Hi obf

@orlbucfan

I hope you stay safe through the climate changing hurricanes this season. Better even would be that they stay away from land.

Your participation here on Fridays is always enjoyed.