Eating dinner out back tonight, I set a place with some scraps for my little yellow friends. I watched them come and go, quickly cutting a suitable size piece of meat with their powerful jaws, and then flying off with it.
When I took the Yellowjacket "portrait" shot posted a few days ago, I also did a very close shot of the mandibles. So after watching their "cutting" performance tonight I took another look at that image.
Nikon D200, Minolta 12.5mm bellows lens. Stacked with Helicon Focus.
Yellowjacket mandibles
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- Charles Krebs
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Delightful, simply delightful! Keep 'em coming!
I got stung by one of these things today. It seems she objected to my throwing more stuff on the compost pile twice, too close together. I don't care. They're still among my favorite critters to watch.
By the way, it's an interesting experiment to mark some of these gals by daubing a bit of paint on their backs so you can recognize individuals (no, it doesn't even hurt them!), then keep track of the visits. Shooting video helps. The last time I did that, it turned out that the "cycle time" was something like 2-1/2 minutes per trip, to cut off a chunk of meat, take it to the nest (which I never did find), and come back for more. Industrious little fellas!
--Rik
I got stung by one of these things today. It seems she objected to my throwing more stuff on the compost pile twice, too close together. I don't care. They're still among my favorite critters to watch.
By the way, it's an interesting experiment to mark some of these gals by daubing a bit of paint on their backs so you can recognize individuals (no, it doesn't even hurt them!), then keep track of the visits. Shooting video helps. The last time I did that, it turned out that the "cycle time" was something like 2-1/2 minutes per trip, to cut off a chunk of meat, take it to the nest (which I never did find), and come back for more. Industrious little fellas!
--Rik
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That's just a little toooooo close for comfort. I'm absolutley petrified of wasps. Bumble bees are fine, but the agressive species, I stay away from like the plague. I say that, and here I am with a deep interest in macro photography.
I suppose I'll have to get over my fear (and I haven't been too bad lately I might add). There was a time when a wasp would arrive at our picnic, and I would leave. I'm not allergic or anything, just scared of the beasties.
All that said, awesome shot, both this one and the portrait. It reminds me of the images Mark Plonsky produces http://www.mplonsky.com/photo/.
I really have to invest in Helicon focus.
I suppose I'll have to get over my fear (and I haven't been too bad lately I might add). There was a time when a wasp would arrive at our picnic, and I would leave. I'm not allergic or anything, just scared of the beasties.
All that said, awesome shot, both this one and the portrait. It reminds me of the images Mark Plonsky produces http://www.mplonsky.com/photo/.
I really have to invest in Helicon focus.
Carl B. Constantine