Lotsa Bugs on Milkweed Pod ~ I have been enjoying my new milkweed plant, with the seed pods opening to disperse the seeds. I had one Large Milkweed Bug foraging on the plant for a couple of weeks. When I looked for it today, it was gone, but then saw quite a few really tiny orange bugs, which I assume are babies left by the big bug. In this image, there are several of the tiny bugs near the bottom of the photo. These bugs are much smaller than the milkweed seeds, and that's SMALL!
Fiery Skipper ~ These small butterflies have been stopping by the lantana plants in the garden outside my patio. I finally got some photos to ID, and believe that they are Fiery Skippers. I think this is a male.
Large Milkweek Bug ~ I just got this milkweed plant, hoping to attract Monarch butterflies, and maybe even have some of their caterpillars to raise and photograph. The morning after I brought the plant home, sure enough I had a Milkweed Bug. Though I'd rather have Monarchs, this bug became my photo subject of the day. For this close-up I used my 100 mm Macro lens, as well as a +1 and +2 diopters, to get extra close.
