Macro-MKE

Rough Blazing Star (Liatris aspera)- I love these flowers.

A very lazy male Broad-handed Leafcutter bee (Megachile latimanus) found snoozing on our Giant Ironweed (Vernonia gigantea)

Male Bicolored Striped Sweat Bee found snoozing in some cultivated flowers we have around our veggie garden.

Milwaukee, WI

Found these bicolored striped sweat bee (Agapostemon virescens) sleeping in our Gladiolus last year. I collected these captures over about 3 months - it was so cool seeing them in the same flowers every morning and night

Swamp Milkweed Leaf Beetle hiding in the flowers of our Swamp Milkweed.

Endangered Rusty-patch Bumble bee foraging on our Giant Ironweed.

Milwaukee, WI

What I believe is a Red-footed Sharptail (Coelioxys rufitarsis) - a leaf-cutter cuckoo bee - foraging our Giant Ironweed (Vernonia gigantea)

Milwaukee, WI

Swamp Milkweed Leaf Beetle (Labidomera clivicollis) drying off on our Swamp Milkweed (Asclepias incarnata).

Apotheosis -

Monarch chrysalis on the verge of Eclosion.

2 series of stacked phots (2x20 photos) blended together to reduce glare.

I've wanted to get this photo for a while.

I shoot with a Nikon Z7II, Nikkor Z MC 105mm S series lens and Godox MF12 modular ring flash.

This was shot at 1/200 sec, f16, ISO 125. If I’m not using a flash (rare these days) my settings are far different for bees - usually 1/800 sec or faster, f-stop 8 or lower and ISO closer to shutterspeed

Found this little leafcutter foraging some Brown-eyed Susans in our garden.

Milwaukee, Wisconsin

Male Broad-handed leafcutter bees are a trip to watch. With their exaggerated forelimbs and propensity for ramming other insects off flowers they sure keep the garden interesting.

Wasps get a bad rap, but are super important pollinators.

Sphex pennsylvanicus are absolutely beautiful and I always love seeing them in our yard.

Bombus resting on our Iron weed.

Milwaukee, Wisconsin

Jumping spiders are cute, and if you disagree you’re wrong.

Lots of M. bimaculatus males aggregating in our yard this evening. Probably one my favorite things to find.

Leafcutter bee foraging Swamp Milkweed.

Little Leaf cutter bee (Megachile sp.) foraging White Wild Indigo (Baptisia alba).

Milwaukee, WI

#leafcutterbees #beesofbluesky #MilwaukeeWildlife #Macrophotography

Female two-spotted longhorn bee (Melissodes bimaculatus) absolutely covered in pollen and foraging prairie blazing star (Liatris pycnostachya).
Sometimes when bees clean their proboscis I imagine they are playing little trumpets.
#MacroPhotography
#MilwaukeeWildlife
#TheTrumpet
#TwoSpottedLongHorn

Bombus sp. foraging Giant Ironweed.

#LetMeSeeYourBeeFace #MilwaukeeWildlife #MacroPhotography

Happy Sleepy Bee Saturday!

Male Denticulate Longhorn Bee (Melissodes denticulatus) sleeping on the peddle of a Purple Coneflower (Echinacea purpurea).

Can’t wait to see these beautiful blue eyes again this spring.

#BlueEyedBees #MacroPhotography #MilwaukeeWildlife #SleepyBeeSaturday

Bombus sp. foraging aster.

#bumblebees #MilwaukeeWildlife #MacroPhotography

Someone will probably try and tell you these field ants (Formica sp.) are farming these Aster treehoppers (Publilia concava) to harvest the nectar they excrete. Let’s be honest, though, they are clearly practicing necromancy.

#AntsOfBluesky #AntsFarming #MacroPhotography

Rather wet and rainy day here in the ol’ MKE, so figured I’d share some of my refraction captures from last season. Love these little worlds suspended in rain drops.

#MacroPhotography #refractions #rainyday #MacroMKE

Female Squash bee (Peponapis pruinosa) brushing pollen out of her eye as a tiny lil Field ant (Formica spp.) looks on while absolutely smothered in pollen.

Happy Saturday!

#MacroPhotography #CoveredInPollen
#MilwaukeeWildlife

A *wee* lil field ant (Formica spp.) I found climbing the surface of a water droplet.

#MacroPhotography #MilwaukeeWildlife #AntsCanBeCuteToo

Black-eyed susans (Rudbeckia hirta) are some of my favorite flowers. Super excited for to see them blooming agin this year.

#FlowerFriday #BlackEyedSusan #NativeFlowersForTheWin #MilwaukeeNativePlants #MacroPhotography

Happy Fly-day Friday from this handsome bumble bee mimic robber fly - the Eastern yellow-backed laphria (Laphria thoracica)! These guys are so fun to watch.

Found this one hunting in my garden in June of 2024.

#FlyDayFriday #RobberFlies #FliesOfBluesky #MacroPhotography #MilwaukeeWildlife

Most of my favorite bees are of the genus Melissodes (Long horned bees), because dang are they cute. Finding aggregations of sleeping males - like these Two-spotted Longhorned bees (Melissodes bimaculatus) - is a huge reason why.

#LongHornedBees #MacroPhotography #MilwaukeeWildlife.

Let them fight!!!
Northern Paper Wasp (Polistes fuscatus) slapping the pollen off of a European Paper Wasp (Polistes dominula).
This was a fun encounter to witness.

#LetThemFight #WaspsOfBluesky #MacroPhotography #MilwaukeeWildLife