It is getting warmer. I actually started opening windows, and kept them open last night. It is great to air out the house after a long winter. On the down side, the large stink bugs have started coming out of hibernation. Maybe, I should have left the spider inside the house. In addition to the Stink Bugs, I also have Western Conifer Seed Bugs (thanks to Chris Mallory for the ID). Apparently, these also have a reputation to be stink bugs, but at least they are not the blood sucking Triatominae (which look similar)
Indoor Autumn Nature in New Jersey: House Pet Returns.
Scutigera Coleoptrata (House Centipede) — Not a Silverfish, one of my creepy crawly house pets appeared again this afternoon. Still waiting on the Drobo upgrade to complete, so spent some time taking macro images — until it got tired of the flash and went away.
Monarch Butterfly. Five-years ago while driving home from work I saw purple wild flowers on the side of the road at an abandoned golf course in Hillsborough. I pulled over to see if there was a picture. The purple wildflowers attracted dozens of Monarch butterflies providing more colors. I took this image with my favorite 80-400 mm telephoto zoom lens. The hard part was working at the minimum focus distance for the lens (~ 7 feet). I needed to keep stepping back to get the image in focus. One more reason I always have a camera with me.
Gone to See America 2008. Moab Utah Photography Workshop with Winston Hall. Day 2: Dead Horse State Park, Canyonlands National Park, Arches National Park.
Orange Dragonfly on a Car Antenna. I noticed this orange dragonfly while waiting for the group to assemble on day 2 of the Eastern Utah Photography Workshop. It landed on a car antenna and remained still long enough to get several images. I really like the 80-400 mm VR lens since I can hand-hold it and get macro images of insects from 8 feet.