Many of my favorite milkweed-watching spots have succumbed to the Road Department weed eaters, and I have been complaining about the loss. But yesterday afternoon, in one of the remaining small patches along my traditional route, I was excited to find my first Red Milkweed Beetle of the season. When I approached, I first spied a dark blob on the shadow side of a leaf. On closer inspection, it was the beetle, but only a dark silhouette. I lightened it considerably (above) in iPhoto which I suppose is a form of cheating. Only after I uploaded the photo did I discover a small cricket on the same leaf. Click on the photo for a closer view. I then hung around for a while, poking at the beetle a little to get it to come out in the sun and assume various positions (below), and I got several nice photos. I think this bug liked me because it could have easily flown away but did not.
Elsewhere on the same plant I found a tiny grasshopper (below) then paid attention to the flowers.
Some very large bees were flying from flower to flower. It was getting pretty hot by the pavement, but
I hung around long enough to get a few pretty good Bumblebee photos before moving on. I hope this particular patch of milkweeds is spared by the weed-eater folks a while longer.
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