Flamingo Friday: Straining frenzy

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Time flies

I must admit that, since I got my macro lens almost a year ago(!), I've become a real fan of flies. Not only are they beautifully iridescent but they (who would have thought it?) STAY STILL--at least, more so than bees or butterflies or ants.

And yet their stillness is so clearly temporary that each second in which they stand, frozen, seems like a lovely gift I'd be a fool not to take advantage of.

There's a lesson in that somewhere...

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Flamingo Friday: Feeling artsy

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They don't call them hover flies for nothing

Hover flies, or syrphid flies, are adorable little creatures that look like bees (but without the sting) and, like bees, feed on nectar. Unlike bees, however, these creatures will sometimes condescend to pose for me—pausing on a flower or leaf for all of a minute as I madly take pictures.

Today, though, the hover fly I spotted simply—hovered, whizzing through the air around a bunch of irises and then pausing, suspended.

And I caught it. On camera, that is.

Truly, this is a year of miracles.

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One good shot: Beach detritus

Because sometimes that's all the sea, or your mind, can cast up.

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Flamingo Friday: Preening in Threes

And stay tuned, folks, for a variety of invertebrate stories, coming soon!

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Flamingo Friday: Every day is like pun-day

What do birds wear to the beach?

BEAK-inis!

No need to thank me.

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One Good Shot: Spring colors

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Flamingo Friday: It's gettin' hot out here...

...So submerge all your nose...

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And to think that I saw it on mulberry leaf

(Excuse the Russian-style lack of definite article in the title, but, hey, if it's got to scan, it's got to scan!)

Imagine my delight when I spotted this ladybug resting on a leaf, so tranquil that it played Norma Desmond to my Cecil B. Demille and let me get a close-up! (Hand-held rather than with a tripod, but that's my fault, not the beetle's.)

Which just goes to show that nothing bad ever came of scrutinizing mulberries. Or watching Sunset Boulevard.

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