Yesterday evening I felt like wandering around through the yard and field in an attempt to find some interesting nature shots. After finding a very interesting beetle I decides plants and clouds were so overrated and began looking out for insects and arachnids. To start off the ball rolling, I present to you the field from which all of the following critters hailed from. Some where smack dab in the center, others in the larger foliage that edged the field, and some on the very outskirts. (click on image for full view)

Also uploaded at DeviantART The first subject of the evening and the little guy that got me hunting for things that crawl, hop, and fly, instead of looking up into the sky or at all the green around me. I have absolutely no idea what type of beetle this is either, but if you know, please feel free to tell me. This little guy’s shell was such a lovely shade of metallic green that the setting sun reflected off of it and easily caught my eye. I absolutely adore the designs on his shell. Kind of Celtic looking too.

Also uploaded at DeviantART. A very beautiful white butterfly who was trying to get some rest and bed down for the evening until this rude human came and stuck a camera, literally in his face, and snapped off a few shots of him. Bright flashes and all. It’s kind of hard to imagine such a dainty and pretty looking thing having murderous thoughts, but I’m sure he managed them just fine and I got a starring role in them. I was surprised that he let me get that close and fire off as many shots of him as I did though. (click on image for full view)

Also uploaded at DeviantART. Here’s another shot of the same butterfly seen above. Since he let me get right in his face I decided to press my luck and take some shots from all angles. Eventually though he did get fed up with my meddling and decided to flutter off. I managed to catch him and tried to take an up close picture of him with his wings spread, but the little bugger wasn’t having any of it and took off the moment I opened my hand. (click on image for full view)

Also uploaded at DeviantART. I’ve been seeing so many tiny and small sized grasshoppers (locust?) around here lately but no large ones. I honestly began to think something was killing them off before they were able to fully mature. Thankfully that isn’t the case, they just seem to be hiding better this year. Anyway, I really liked how this one was blended in nicely with the twigs on the ground versus its brethren which were perched on grass blades and hopping all over the place. He stood out, thus he got his picture taken. Say cheese! (click on image for full view)

Also uploaded at DeviantART. After stepping away from the pretty green beetle featured above in the post, I walked right by this spider. In fact, it was only by chance that I glanced down and noticed him hanging in [seemingly] midair. Thankfully I didn’t mess up his beautifully spun spiderweb with my absentmindedness. Snapped off a lot of pictured of this guy, but my flash kept bleaching him out. At this point the sun had pretty much set so it was getting pretty dark out. Not the best lighting conditions sadly. Now, I believe this is a male black widow spider, but don’t quote me on that. (click on image for full view)

Also uploaded at DeviantART. Here’s another shot of the same spider above. This time the emphasis of the photo is not the spider, but the spiderweb itself. I tried to angle it just right so that the remaining light coupled with the flash of my camera would illuminate the spider’s web for you. I also made this one in black and white to give the spiderweb some contrast and set it apart from the background. I wanted to pull back further so that you could see more of the web, but when I did that, the web itself started disappearing in the shots and it looked like, once again, a spider floating in midair. (click on image for full view)

And last but not least, we have a stink bug! I know, generally when someone says “stink bug” you pictured the shield bugs. However, these guys are indeed stinky and, in my opinion, emit a far more noxious scent then the shield bugs do when they’re alarmed. It spreads further and lasts longer. Ugh. Anyway, I spied a lot of these beetles crawling around but pursued other insects until eventually I saw this guy all by his lonesome at the edge of the field. He looked so sad climbing over twigs by his lonesome, wandering about in circles as if looking for something desperately, that I snapped a shot of him. (click on image for full view)