Archive for November 2010
Stilt Legged Flies – Courting and Mating and …
At first I only saw him, standing on the edge of the leaf waving his front legs in the air. I looked across the chasm between leaves for what he could possibly be waving to and I saw her, not waving back.
After a little waving, mostly by him, they got together and that leg waving stopped but another leg waving started, the pair of legs behind the first.
Anyway, long story short, they got together and then parted. She went about grooming herself and he started waving those front legs again.
Sound familiar?
Ant Hunter
These little Jumpers are the kittens of the spider world, so apparently playful at times the way they hop, skip and jump about in what looks like playful abandon. Not the times depicted here though. Here they are hunting ants, successfully. Ants will often travel in a line on an open surface and there you will find these spiders, waiting in the wings to pick off strays, or pouncing on the line and carrying an ant off to eat it in quiet.
These lines of ants are often guarded by soldier ants, big and ferocious fellows. But even they can become a Jumpers dinner, as you can see here – one has an ant nearly as big as itself.
Cute? Not to an ant.
March/Horse Fly – Flower Feeder2
A colourful little beauty this. Usually blood suckers, but this one feeds on nectar. I’ll have to remember that so there is no unnecessary wariness, if there is a next time.
This one came in through the open window one night so I trapped it. Can’t have a big fella like this roaming the house at night. Next morning I got a few shots of him – I think – on some carnations from upstairs then gave him a little honey and water before letting him go outside. As soon as I let him go he landed on the red flower you see in the last picture.
Then off he lazily flew, into the wild yonder.
The Colours of Oz 