BIRDQUEST2004

This weekend my Digger Wasps decided to come back and build their nests under my patio stones.  They are very adept at digging their burrows under my patio and for an insect they can move a lot of dirt in very little time.  They are very calm wasps and I’ve been able to get fairly close as you can see from the images as long as I was lying down.

From what I’ve read they are solitary, their burrows have  many cells branching off the main tunnel and they lay a single egg in each cell, then the adult places a cricket, grasshopper or katydid in the cell, so each youngster has a fresh, live but paralyzed dinner when it hatches.

Kind of gruesome but thats nature….

The 2 photos below were taken from about 1 foot away with my D3S and 105 macro lens, an awesome combo.

I love getting out there with my Nikon 105mm F2.8  macro but my new Nikon 300mm F4 is a sharp, close focusing lens.  It really reaches out so I can take insect images without getting too close.

With the early spring lots of new insects buzzing around.  I have gotten quite a few new images.

Most of the images below were taken with the 300.