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Thursday, October 15, 2009

Leaping Robber Fly

Robber flies are fast, fearless, and ferocious predators of the insect world. I thought it might be interesting to get a few photos of these little guys flying since they were fairly common where I was working in the high-desert of Washington.

Interesting yes, easy no.....

For an insect that has extremely agile flight capabilities, it sure is stubborn about not flying when ever I had my camera around. I did manage to get one leaping into flight from a patch of soil, but it took two days...

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Predacious robber fly (Efferia sp.)

I had to take an occasional break from the frustrating robber flies, so I took advantage of the wild mariposa lilies that were making their annual appearance.

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sagebrush Mariposa lily (Calochortus macrocarpus)

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Sagebrush Mariposa lily (Calochortus macrocarpus)

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Sagebrush Mariposa lily (Calochortus macrocarpus)

And managed to photograph a small native anthidium bee near a Salt heliotrope (Heliotropium Curassavicum) flower.
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Anthidium bee (Anthidium sp)

6 comments:

John W. Wall said...

Great catches, man! I do believe that's the first leaping robber fly photo I've ever seen. Beautiful mariposa shots too.

OregonWild said...

Thanks John. Robber flies are extremely cool - just not very cooperative.

Chris said...

Awesome pictures, your hard work shows.
Were you using a on or off camera flashes?
I would love to see more pictures of your in field camera flash setup for the remote pictures.
Thank you for the Blog; it’s a great learning tool.

OregonWild said...

Chris

I don't think this kind of shot would be possible with on camera flash (unless you are very, very, very lucky)

You are correct of course – I should be showing some of my flash set-ups. I will endeavor to do so.

Unknown said...

Hi!
I am big follower of your blog and must say I dabbled into bat photography a relatively new subject in India drawing inspiration from your site. I am very keen on doing insects in flight. You know how the tropics are in terms of insect diversity, damselfly, colorful dragonflies and ofcourse the amazing rainforest butterflies as well. I am keen on knowing your flash setup. Another thing which I would love to know from you is the underwater housing and trigger which you effectively captured the salmon.

D-Wing said...

great photos. http://d-wing.blogspot.com/

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Details About Me

Portland, Oregon, United States
Husband, Father, Student Of Natural History, Photographer