Bugs

I've been taking lots of insect photos this trip. At the campground near Yakima, Washington I spotted a milkweed plant so I checked it out, hoping for a Monarch caterpillar. No luck with that, but there were a few other insects visiting.

I also spotted this one on a tree nearby. I think it's a common Boxelder Bug nymph.

At Five Springs, one of the first hikes we did was to Painted Canyon. Around the parking area there were cicadas everywhere. I've seen individual cicadas here before, but never so many. I think these are Putnam's Cicadas, in which case they live 3 to 5 years, but all but 4 to 6 weeks is spent underground as nymphs.

Although lots of them had obviously emerged, I only spotted one of the "skins" they shed when the nymphs emerge from underground and transition to adults.

Even the ants were taking advantage and were hauling this piece of a cicada.

I didn't see a lot of caterpillars, but there were some Western Tent Caterpillars.

There were lots of grasshoppers around, but they are always skittish and even with a photograph, they are hard to identify.

I always search the flowers for insects. In this dry country the flowers are a focus.

I watched this wasp visit several flowers, crawling inside to feed. But then it stopped inside one flower and didn't budge. I thought maybe a crab spider had ambushed it, but I couldn't see anything. Even when I peeled the petals back, the wasp didn't move. I later found another one also "sleeping" inside one of the flowers. Strange.

Several times, something green flew up from the ground but it moved too fast to identify. Finally, one flew up, but another stayed on the ground. It was a green tiger beetle which apparently are sometimes purple and therefore the name, Purple Tiger Beetle.

From a distance I thought this was a plant gall, but it turned out to be a crab spider, waiting patiently for its prey to visit. It wasn't very well camouflaged, maybe it was normally on a different type of flower.

These photos were almost all taken with the little Olympus 60mm macro lens on an OM-1, a great combination for this kind of photography, and very compact for travel.

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Kalaloch

We're on our usual spring road trip. After the painless border crossing on the Coho ferry from Victoria to Port Angeles, one of our usual stops is at Kalaloch campground on the west coast of the Olympic peninsula. The campground itself is a fairly standard government campground, but it has a nice beach and a nature trail, and a lodge within walking distance with a nice restaurant overlooking the beach and sunset.

Lily of the Valley was carpeting the forest floor in places.

And the Seaside Pea was a splash of color along the beach.

Unlike the trees reflected in the water.

And the waves stacked up in front of the beach.

In the morning the sun was shining through the fog.

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Silver-spotted Tiger Moth

I found this caterpillar on my doorstep and brought it inside for a photo shoot. I don't think it was impressed by being herded around under a bright light but it didn't last long and I returned it to the outdoors good as new. I don't think I've ever seen an adult moth, but the caterpillars are fairly common. I was careful not to handle it since the hairs can irritate the skin. The hairs serve as a defence mechanism and they also use them to reinforce their cocoons.

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Flowers

If you look closely, you can see some of the Horse Chestnut flowers are yellow, and some are pink/red. Apparently, they start out yellow and turn pink/red after they have been pollinated (or are no longer fertile). This helps the pollinating bees to visit the right flowers.

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Camas

I'm gradually getting to know the progression of spring flowers here - Hellebores, Snow Drops, Daffodils, Fawn Lilies, Tulips, and now the Camas. The walkway along the water near us goes by the Matson Conservation Area where there are many Camas in the spring. I enjoy seeing them.

Camas are in the asparagus family and the unopend flower buds look a little bit like asparagus.

It's interesting how the flowers open from the bottom up.

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