Me and Grasshopper McGee

magkelly

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Actually two McGees!

I spent about 20 minutes outside this morning shooting two different grasshopper nymphs. They're both Eastern Lubbers, grasshoppers from the same exact species but caught at vastly different stages in growth. When these are done growing they are huge, and they are colored a really ugly yellow. They're actually much more attractive bugs in their nymph stages.

The little guy I caught sitting on a bunch of old plastic near the steps to my house was about 1 1/2 inches maybe. The big guy on the wall was more like 4 inches!

The little guy, not so obliging. He let me have one quick shot before he hopped under the house. The big guy sat and walked around on the wall for a while and I got to use the AE1, my SP1, and my digital before we were done. He didn't like me in his face, but he didn't run far either.

I'm hoping I got some even better shots with the film cameras as I had the nicer lenses to use and my digital cameras zoom and macro settings aren't all that great. Still, I have to say I was pretty impressed with these. These are definitely some of the best bug shots I've gotten to date with this camera. I still had to process them, and as usual they're a bit softer focused than I'd like, but I had quite a bit more to work with than I usually do.

More of these later when I get the film back hopefully. He was really interacting a lot with the cast iron garden bugs, so I hope to have something even more interesting when those are developed.

The Little Guy...

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The Big Guy...

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What a rascal. I especially like the composition in #4; and that grasshopper has some interesting coloration.
 
That one is flipped. I did that deliberately to make it look like the fake bug was climbing up. The iron bug is below him is actually sitting on the top of a brick wall. It just looked more interesting that way.

This is all the stages they go through.

http://entnemdept.ufl.edu/creatures/orn/lubber.htm

They're pretty interesting grasshoppers but I think they are far prettier as nymphs. Cute, until I read this I had no idea that if they got mad at you they could spray nasty stuff. I'm glad this guy was nice to me, ICK!
 
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Cool shots. Way too heavy on the contrast for my tastes, but some people like that look I think. Most bugs look cooler/cuter/prettier as nymphs I think.
 
Yesterday there was only McGee and the tiny one. Today they're chewing up all the trees in the immediate vicinity! If you count carefully there are six in the first pic. The second is actually a crop of that one. That's only one one small area of maybe a foot or so. Two days ago that tree was full of foliage and flowers. Today it's 2/3 stripped.

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