Insect Life

 

Stiletto Fly on Blackberry Leaf, San Francisco Presidio

I've been thinking about photographing the diversity of grasses I find around the city, but I quickly realized when I tried to get started this morning that it was virtually impossible to get good shots in the field. When I last photographed grasses (from Mt. Tam), I collected them and set them up at home where I could have better controls. Luckily, I've also been thinking about photographing insects, so that's what I ended up doing today.

It didn't seem like I was seeing many insects -- and then a light rain started, sending me under some trees for cover -- but I came home with a decent assortment, all shot around the Andrew Goldsworthy Spire and across the street between Inspiration Point and El Polin Spring. Much of the latter area is fenced off, so I was only hunting along the edges of the trail (which is bike-legal).

It's been a long time since I photographed insects, and I ended up using an aperture of f/11 which serves well for tidepools. Now I see that I really should have used an even smaller aperture to increase depth of field for these tiny subjects. Next time.

I uploaded these to iNaturalist and got some preliminary IDs, but too preliminary to post here.

Hover Fly

Brown Lacewing

Fungus-eating Fly (Suillia variegata)

Variable Duskyface Fly (Melanostoma mellinum)

Leaf Beetle (Chrysolina bankii)

Spittlebug Froth

Meadow Spittlebug (Philaenus spumarius)

Meadow Spittlebug (Philaenus spumarius)

Western Aphid Eater (Eupeodes fumipennis)

Cluster Fly (Pollenia sp.)

Minettia flaveola

Snipe Fly (Chrysopilus sp.)

Shield-backed Katydid

Soldier Beetle (Cultellunguis perpallens)

Gray Buckeye (Junonia grisea)

Variable Checkerspot (Euphydryas chalcedona)

Western Fence Lizard (Sceloporus occidentalis)

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