jack .. brilliant shots .. and a very exciting moment ..
like i said in my comment .. i'm hoping to be there when one of the wasps hatch on the firetrail ..
being summer here now the nest building and laying of egg cycle has only been going on for a relatively short time .. only the eggs are in the cells and none have even turned into larvae yet .. i think that after they pupate and hatch the queen lays more eggs in the vacated cell .. so that means i should get lots of opportunities ..
i'm wondering how long it took for this little wasp to emerge fully after its face first appeared while still in the cell .. ??:)
I cannot believe you did not save this [thumb]743313[/thumb] or [thumb]743314[/thumb] for a free study. Dude Macro shots rock in the FS almost a sure 6 for a well done shot. I like the series.
jack .. brilliant shots .. and a very exciting moment ..
like i said in my comment .. i'm hoping to be there when one of the wasps hatch on the firetrail ..
being summer here now the nest building and laying of egg cycle has only been going on for a relatively short time .. only the eggs are in the cells and none have even turned into larvae yet .. i think that after they pupate and hatch the queen lays more eggs in the vacated cell .. so that means i should get lots of opportunities ..
i'm wondering how long it took for this little wasp to emerge fully after its face first appeared while still in the cell .. ??:)
This was the first of three and took the longest at approximately 90 minutes. Two more hatched the next day while I was aware of only one though, the other was a complete surprise. I learned a lot about these wasps from you Roz and reading up on this specific variety online. Two of the three were drones, workers. One was a queen and was a lot bigger and active, she wanted to leave but felt the cold air when I put her close to the opened window, and backed away. I kept them for over two weeks until it got warm one day and the queen finally left, but the two workers just kept on walking around the nest.
These were totally un-aggressive when approached and would often walk on my hand and arms or just sit there doing nothing. I didn't and wouldn't try that with the queen though. I even fed them strawberry jam and water droplets, which they ate and slurped away for a minute or two. I was watching with a magnifying glass in amazement. lol
I cannot believe you did not save this [thumb]743313[/thumb] or [thumb]743314[/thumb] for a free study. Dude Macro shots rock in the FS almost a sure 6 for a well done shot. I like the series.
Matt
I thought of it with another shot but I think I've grown this paranoia about entering bug shots in challenges, even if they're free studies. Just like glass, water, etc. Thanks for the suggestion. :)
I cannot believe you did not save this [thumb]743313[/thumb] or [thumb]743314[/thumb] for a free study. Dude Macro shots rock in the FS almost a sure 6 for a well done shot.
I thought the same thing -- especially the second of the two. Top 10% for sure.
I've kept beehives for years - and I still fear wasps.
I'm really amazed that you didn't get stung.
It would be really cool if you could add the lens/aperture/shutter speed and flash set up info.
Great stuff.
On my property we usually have several of those wasp nests especially at our well house and so far I've never been stung yet even with them moving around the outside of the nest while trying to take pictures with my macro lens. These days I'm more worried about getting stung by a giant desert centepede, which I've now seem twice on my property including one time inside the house (photo1, photo2. We also have many scorpions and those have stung me since they get in the house pretty easily.
I can't believe the size of that centipede, and they sting, that is scary. Hope they prefer cool surroundings and that the two you spotted were merely lost. I like the second shot's moody lighting, did you seduce it into posing for you? :)
