Macro

A short walk with my camera and macro lens.

It's ironic how we hate weeds and invasives when we are the most invasive and weediest of all. I like the little tiny deadnettle flowers.

This year's crop of Cross Orbweavers are still small. Their eggs hatch in the spring and they grow over the summer until mating and laying a new batch in the fall. The large females are more noticeable in the fall.

According to iNaturalist, this is a little known genus of hoverflies (Melanostoma) that feed on tiny insects in leaf litter.

See all the photos in this batch

Birds

The most common birds around here are Hooded Mergansers (above) and Buffleheads (below)

The females are much less flashy. Here's a pair of Buffleheads lost in the reflections.

This female Hooded Merganser was catching crabs. The crabs put up a fight, so it takes some work before they can swallow it.

There are also Common Mergansers around. From a distance they can look like the female Hooded, but up closer they're different.

Of course, there are also gulls, and Black Oystercatchers, Canada Geese, and Anna's Hummingbirds

I've also been seeing a Cooper's Hawk around. I wonder if it's one of the ones that was around last summer. At one point it looked like it was building a nest, but maybe it gave up as I haven't seen it back at that spot.

It might be spring here in Victoria, but there's still snow on the Olympic mountains.

See all the photos in this batch