Oh my god, thank you for that video, it's fantastic. She's so cute! I never saw a real mantis and this is fascinating.
... According to observations.be, they are present (albeit very rare) in Belgium, so I guess you've started me on a new life quest. πΈ
Everyone needs to head to that mastodon account because there is a whole series of amazingly adorable photo to pixel pieces!
The dots aren't following you around :) They're called pseudopupils. You're seeing down the "tubes" (ommatidia) of the composite eyes (heavy oversimplification because I'm no scientist).
A smarter person explains this here: https://www.readingeagle.com/2015/09/16/outside-some-insects-look-like-theyre-looking-at-you-but-are-they
This is so disheartening. The more into nature photography I get, the more I realise how smart and chill bees are and the more I love them. I hope research like this will lead to better protection, but I don't have high hopes...
"Did they see me? Naaah. I am perfectly hidden behind this tall grass!"
Such a beautiful area. I love that golden light.
Aw, thank you! I'm glad you like it!
All I can find is this: https://askentomologists.com/2015/02/25/through-the-compound-eye/ (and it's pretty interesting, tbh)
Me too! It's been bugging me that I'll never know.
That spider must be quite pleased. That catch is almost as big as it is.
I saw php error logs cause a full disk in a few minutes (thankfully on a shared dev server), thanks to an accidental endless loop that just flooded everything with a wall of notices...
And, working with a CMS that allows third-party plugins that don't bother to catch exceptions, aggressive web crawlers are not a good thing to encounter on a weekend... 1 exception x 400000 product pages makes for a loooot of text.
Trying out my new camera and lens. I didn't expect getting such good results with no practice on the R7, but it does 99% of the job.
Edit: Halictus scabiosae, identified through observations.be with 99% certainty.
What am I looking at? Except a very industrious little worker?
How do I go about figuring it out? Is there some reliable site that would allow me to refine by stripes and such? Thanks.
This is Wallonia, Belgium. I got a new camera, which allows me to get much more detailed entirely useless pictures! I was one with the bees for an entire hour, came home with 500 pictures, and this is the only photo I got of this one. The stripe pattern struck me, with the very sharp lines, but I have no head, no thorax, no nothing...
Done... a whiiiiile ago for a daily challenge
Wavre, Belgium, today β₯ I knew there were chaffinches in town, I hear their calls on the regular, but I hadn't managed to see one up close yet.
Finally. I kept hearing them and not seeing them. Very frustrating.
Very efficient killer. He didn't miss a single fish in the three hours I watched him, and he was also catching dragonflies as they flew by.
Han-sur-Lesse Wildlife Park, Belgium
I promise not to spam this community with random pics, but I adore common blues, and was delighted when I stumbled upon this. I somehow never see them in pairs. I figured I'd share!
Or less possibly a willow tit? I can't tell. Belgium, Wallonia.
The spiny flower mantis is gorgeous. It looks more like a piece of fantasy art than a real insect. Surreal.
Also, is your link possibly wrong on the "like this"?