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Kettle Lakes Provincial Park

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PS-RagE

Supreme [H]ardness
Joined
Aug 11, 2000
Messages
4,298
I guess by now it should be somewhat obvious that I mainly shoot nature and wildlife. Only problem is, if you want to be a nature photographer it helps to get out in it. So two weeks ago my wife talked me into buying a camper (a hard sell it was too ;)) - now every week I will have the oppertunity to get out to the parks and get some pics!

jfeather2.jpg



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Anyhow, our first trip out we went to Kettle Lakes Provincial Park. Although it rained on and off for much of the weekend, I did manage to get out and grab some pics.

On Saturday morning, I saw this guy. I started to follow him for a better pic but came to my senses when I lost sight of him:

bear.jpg

D2X, Nikkor 70-200 F/2.8 VR w/1.4x TC, ISO 400, 1/200, F/4, handheld


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These guys were constantly running around the campsite looking for scraps:

chipmunk.jpg

D2X, Nikkor 70-200 F/2.8 VR, ISO 100, 1/60, F/5.6, handheld


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These caterpillars had a silk tent built over the leaf they were eating. They were tiny little fellows - each one less than a half an inch in length:

leafeaters.jpg

D2X, Sigma 180mm F/3.5 Macro, ISO 100, 1/60, F/22, tripod-mounted with flash


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This yellowjacket was hunting out and eating the tiny bugs on this flower:

hunter1.jpg

D2X, Sigma 180mm F/3.5 Macro, ISO 100, 1/60, F/22, handheld with flash



hunter2.jpg

D2X, Sigma 180mm F/3.5 Macro, ISO 100, 1/60, F/22, handheld with flash



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I just spotted this leaf hopper out of the corner of my eye. From the top he was almost invisible.

leafbug.jpg

D2X, Sigma 180mm F/3.5 Macro, ISO 100, 1/60, F/22, handheld with flash


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I'm not sure what is going on in these pics. When I set up for the shot, I thought it was some ants feasting on some goo stuck to the branches. But when I focused, it turned out to be thousands of tiny little bugs! I still don't know if they were eating them or herding them. It was quite windy when I was taking this pic and I was having a hell of a time focusing.

antfarm1.jpg

D2X, Sigma 180mm F/3.5 Macro, ISO 100, 1/60, F/22, tripod-mounted with flash



antfarm2.jpg

D2X, Sigma 180mm F/3.5 Macro w/1.4x TC, ISO 100, 1/60, F/22, tripod-mounted with flash


Taking those last two pics convinced me it was time to order a pair of Wimberly Plamps and a Kirk focusing rail

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The little bugs that ants are herding are probably aphids. I don't know enough about ants to know if this species of ants is dedicated to aphid farming, but I'm sure that is what is going on here.

HorsePunchKid would probably know :D


Awesome pictures, BTW. I love how the flash overpowers the ambient light, but maybe in the last 2 photos of the ants this effect was a little bit strong. Maybe get another flash & a background so you can have a nice barely-visible and indistinguishable background instead of a vast flat black... Keep it up.
 
Tim_axe said:
The little bugs that ants are herding are probably aphids. I don't know enough about ants to know if this species of ants is dedicated to aphid farming, but I'm sure that is what is going on here.

HorsePunchKid would probably know :D


Awesome pictures, BTW. I love how the flash overpowers the ambient light, but maybe in the last 2 photos of the ants this effect was a little bit strong. Maybe get another flash & a background so you can have a nice barely-visible and indistinguishable background instead of a vast flat black... Keep it up.
Click to expand...

Thanks!

Unless there is more than one variety of aphid they are usually little green bugs. I do suspect they are herding them in some manner though.

I agree about the solid black background. This was on a scrawny little tree that was isolated from the rest of the foliage by a couple meters or so. That is why I ordered two Plamps: one to hold the target still and another to hold something to act as a background.
 
There are many different varieties of aphid; they come in all colors (red, green, black), shapes (body, cornicles, antennae), and sizes (well, small to tiny, anyway). Unfortunately, I've tried to identify aphids in the past based on online resources, and it's not easy. This guy has what I'm sure are the exact same species, but I'm fairly sure that he's identified them incorrectly (see my comment there).

As Tim_axe suggested, the ants are probably not eating the aphids. Ants are often found in mutualistic relationships with aphids: The aphids get protection, and the ants get delicious aphid excrement (honeydew).

Anyway, great shots, and thanks for the link to the Plamps. Those look awfully handy. Let us know how they work out!
 
HorsePunchKid said:
As Tim_axe suggested, the ants are probably not eating the aphids. Ants are often found in mutualistic relationships with aphids: The aphids get protection, and the ants get delicious aphid excrement (honeydew).

Anyway, great shots, and thanks for the link to the Plamps. Those look awfully handy. Let us know how they work out!
Click to expand...

Thanks - you are the 2nd to tell me that now but your description of honeydew was much more amusing :p Thanks also for that link. Nice to know what your pics are of :)

The Plamps showed up yesterday so I'll be giving them a whirl this weekend
 
PS-RagE,
Awesome work! Makes me wish I had more money to upgrade my camera :)
Any chance on posting a 1600x1200 (or so) image of the yellowjacket?
Would love to use that as a background image on my computer!

Thank's for sharing!

(hunter2.jpg)
 
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