Insects

[Brad]

Shot a few insects on Saturday.

1. Not sure what this critter is, never seen one before. Feeding on a butterfly bush.


2. Monarch on an Iris


3. A Blue Wasp on the Butterfly Milkweed (annual)


4. Bee on the Butterfly Bush

[Timmys Treehouse]

Awesome! I think that first one is a Hermaris Thyebe or Hummingbird Clearwing moth. I've never seen one , in person, before eater. Great find. I'd love to see one let alone photograph it. I get Spinx Moths in my garden from time to time, but none of these yet. It's nice to know they live around here. I'll defiantly keep my eyes peeled. My wife grew up in Arizona and said she had never seen a blue wasp until this summer. It will be nice to share your image with her.

[MTO]

That is on heck of a lens.

[almighty_tuna]

Did you use the 70-200 for this? Nice wasp shot!

[Brad]

Did you use the 70-200 for this? Nice wasp shot!

Thanks! 70-200 with my 2x teleconverter.

[Brad]

Need to get new Milkweed and Butterfly Bushes plated at our new house!

The monarch massacre: Nearly a billion butterflies have vanished

http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/ener ... -vanished/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Threatened animals like elephants, porpoises and lions grab all the headlines, but what’s happening to monarch butterflies is nothing short of a massacre. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service summed it up in just one grim statistic on Monday: Since 1990, about 970 million have vanished.

It happened as farmers and homeowners sprayed herbicides on milkweed plants, which serve as the butterflies’ nursery, food source and home. In an attempt to counter two decades of destruction, the Fish and Wildlife Service launched a partnership with two private conservation groups, the National Wildlife Federation and the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation, to basically grow milkweed like crazy in the hopes of saving the monarchs.