Flycatcher - Out on a Limb It was always going to be hard to top the butterfly beauty of last Sunday, and so it turned out. Nothing much to post this week. Spotted Flycatchers are two-a-penny but they can still make a nice picture.
The Cicada though is not so nice to look at, it being a sizable bug.
The Cicada though is not so nice to look at, it being a sizable bug.
Cicada
Cicada But it is an interesting bug, responsible for all that noise from our trees on hot summer days. It makes the noise by flexing special membranes that crackle, much like expanding and contracting cellophane bags in the hollow abdomen.
Most cicadas have a 2 to 5 year life cycle, but some such as the Magicicada larvae stay underground for 13 or 17 years as an adaptation to avoid predators such as the Cicada Killer Wasp and Praying Mantis. Such predators cannot regularly fall into synchrony with the cicadas as 13 and 17 are indivisible prime numbers. So a cicada with a 15-year life cycle could be preyed upon by a predator with a three or five-year life cycle, but the 13 and 17 year cicadas do not allow the predators to fall into step. Neat eh? The larvae know the exact number of years elapsed by counting the rise and fall of sap in underground plant stems.
Most cicadas have a 2 to 5 year life cycle, but some such as the Magicicada larvae stay underground for 13 or 17 years as an adaptation to avoid predators such as the Cicada Killer Wasp and Praying Mantis. Such predators cannot regularly fall into synchrony with the cicadas as 13 and 17 are indivisible prime numbers. So a cicada with a 15-year life cycle could be preyed upon by a predator with a three or five-year life cycle, but the 13 and 17 year cicadas do not allow the predators to fall into step. Neat eh? The larvae know the exact number of years elapsed by counting the rise and fall of sap in underground plant stems.
Bird photographers will understand the difficulty of photographing birds in flight. Getting the exposure and focus right on a rapidly moving subject is no mean feat. I like to practice on dragonflies which is even more difficult. Catching them in the viewfinder is hard enough but getting them in focus is particularly challenging Here is a Lesser Emperor on which I achieved a measure of success, not a great shot but quite satisfying.
African Grass blue Macro is another demanding technique. At very close range depth-of-field is tiny, so getting the whole subject in focus is difficult. This tiny African Blue butterfly is in focus because the camera was perpendicular to the plane of the insect, so all the visible subject was within the small depth-of-field limits. Reducing the lens aperture increases depth-of-field, but then it requires slower shutter speeds to achieve the correct exposure which can result in blurred images. To compensate I increase ISO sensitivity to at least 400 or more. It all takes understanding, practice and good light, but it is satisfying to magnify tiny subjects, giving us another perspective on nature.
This week we had a visitor. This delightful Lovebird flew in through a patio door and made itself at home. It was not hungry or thirsty but liked to sit on our shoulders and loved company, so it was obviously an escapee from a good home. It stayed for about six hours and then decided to move on. I hope it found its way back to safe-keeping again.
Northern Wheatear - oenanthe oenanthe
On Thursday we joined the Axarquia Bird Group on a walk around the Guadalhorce Reserve near Malaga. A total of 63 species was seen by the group and the highlight for me was the welcome sight of a lovely male Marsh Harrier, our first sighting here this year. Along with Booted and Short-toed Eagles, Osprey and Kestrel it marks a welcome return of raptors that have been conspicuous by their absence since the long wet winter of 2012/13. They were however too distant for decent photography, unlike this very obliging little Northern Wheatear (above) that posed nicely on a fencepost along the beach.
Although not good quality I quite like this shot of a Dunlin and Black-winged Stilt feeding in company, which evokes the spirit of this super Reserve.
Although not good quality I quite like this shot of a Dunlin and Black-winged Stilt feeding in company, which evokes the spirit of this super Reserve.
