A Guest in the House
I can’t remember what I was doing now, but I looked up at something moving in the corner of my eye and, sensing me, it stopped dead in its tracks. A little Gecko had come in from the unceasing rainfall and was making his way across my ceiling. Love the way they can walk upside down on the ceiling, with that waggling gait.
A small fellow, about the same size as the one in The Kill. This one had a different outcome though, in the short term anyway, that I know of.
I thought this little fellow would get lost and die in my place, with nothing or very little to eat, so I trapped him. I got a glass mixing bowl from the kitchen and just placed it on the Gecko on the ceiling, careful not to pinch him between the hard glass rim and the flat plasterboard. I then slipped a piece of cardboard between the bowls rim and the ceiling until he jumped down into the glass and I had him.
Then I brought him outside and let him go on a table I use for shots of creatures from around the house that allow me. He dashed this way and that but wasn’t frightened of me when I put a hand out to keep him from running away. And I was delighted he hung around for a little while, with that little encouragement from me.
Of course he was wary of me, a strange giant to his little eye. But after a while he came to sit on my finger once and allowed me to touch him before he darted away.
What a long tongue he’s got. And a lovely golden colour. Little beauty, to me.
Mark Berkery ……. Click any picture and click again to enlarge
Macro Day Three …
… nearly didn’t happen. With all the rain and not a bug in sight … The short of it is one made it for the day, it was only decided to go ahead on the morning of the day, and it seemed prudent not to ask anyone else along in case the rain didn’t stop. It stopped, for long enough anyway.
When it’s not pouring rain there is always an insect around, wherever you are. The trick is to find them without it being a stress or strain. When you stop trying you find what happens, happens with a pleasantly surprising ease.
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If anyone is interested in coming along for hands on experience of what and how I do what I do check these links : Macro Meditation Day, Macro Illustrated and Meditate, and email me at contact (at) beingmark (dot) com so you are on the list.
Email going out soon for January 2011 (and maybe Feb) dates.
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I can’t emphasize too much the importance, in my experience, of methodical relaxation and meditation to the creative state, that state of being in which it is possible to see and do the extraordinary – which is ordinary at the time. It is the basis for my art, it is my art. And it doesn’t have to be separate from the ‘rest’ of life.
Your life is your art, and every one a masterpiece, when nothing is left undone. ((:
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Here are a few of mine from the day, just the Nomadic Leaf Cutter Bees for now. The other participant may post some of his later.
This is also posted at different fora, the most active of which is HERE.
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I thought the one who attended would post a few pix but he must be too busy, never mind.
Here are a few more of mine from the day.
Jumping Spider with prey.
Some kind of young Shield Bug.
A small black Weevil at the honey with Mites attached.
Tiger beetle, the fastest thing on six legs – 1 metre in 1 second, so they say. Lucky he wasn’t running this day.
Mark Berkery ……. Click any picture and click again to enlarge
The Kill
A lot of Gecko’s live in this old wooden two storey Queenslander. I often see them at the outside light at night and as soon as they see me they run and hide. They will attack and eat anything that flutters on a window or under the light and run and hide from anything bigger than they are – sound survival tactic, usually.
This young Gecko was stationary as I passed and stopped to look. Moments later it was scuttling across the wall towards a corner it could disappear behind. I usually just watch them go but this time I thought I’d see if I could catch one to get a better look.
I was reaching out to cup it in one hand before it disappeared around the corner of the wall when a huge, four inch leg span, Huntsman came around that same corner at lightning speed and snatched the Gecko’s life with a single bite.
The blink of an eye and it was almost over for the Gecko. The Huntsman was taking no chance of losing its catch, holding on tight and then biting closer to the head before silently slinking away with its meal, glistening venom cascading over one of its prey’s eyes.
They had never heard of Christmas. Or …. ?
Mark Berkery ……. Click any picture and click again to enlarge
Neon Blue Delight
It was late afternoon on a very wet Macro Day when I noticed this tiny creature, about 5mm long, in the open downstairs bathroom trying to find a way out through the glass window.
To the eye this creature looked dark, with just a hint of blue with the light at the right angle and if seen with care. I often trap creatures I find downstairs, give them a feed and let them go – usually after a few shots if it can be managed. And I don’t release a creature into the night if it would usually be asleep in the dark.
So this one spent the night trapped in a jar with a rose leaf and a little honey. It sleeps with its head down and antennae wrapped under it. In the morning I took a few shots before and as it woke up. In fact it only really woke when I breathed a warm breath on it a few times.
Very quickly it came awake and started twitching those tiny antennae and wandering about and under the leaf. I gave it my finger to climb on and to warm up, which it did. And a few seconds later it took to the air, off to god knows where. To do its ordinary everyday business.
Wonderful little thing. Delightful, to me, little Emerald Cuckoo Wasp.
Mark Berkery ……. Click any picture and click again to enlarge
Macro Day One
Ok, my first Macro Day (check link for forum) done and I enjoyed it. And well done to the participants – who I trust enjoyed it too.
Biggest lesson for me? You can’t do it all in one day. Just as learning photography is an evolution of perception and effort so is teaching anything, the more you perceive and correct what is not right for you the less effort you have to make, and the process is refined by experience.
We were going for around four hours and it seemed like work at times as I’m sure it did to others – not a bad thing in itself, and not stressful with the practise of relaxation/meditation. People were introduced to some wonderful creatures and I trust we were all relaxed enough and learned something of value from the experience.
Things for me to remember, make some general purpose diffusers for people to use, and get longer sticks for next time. ((:
FYI, the other Macro Days this year – 11th and 29th Dec are booked and I have a list of people from this and other fora interested for the new year. If you want to be on the list check this page : Macro Meditation Day. Follow/read the links and/or email me at contact@beingmark.com
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I thought 3 or 4 would be a comfortable number and it is so. I’ll keep it at that for now unless anyone who has already been on a Macro Day wants to join a group that hasn’t – I’d consider that an asset.
I trust those who came got a few keepers they will post here for the record. Keeper rates in high mag macro are not high for anyone, whatever ‘they’ say.
Here’s a few of mine from yesterday, more later. Anybody is welcome to comment.
A Beetle in the bush.
A lovely coloured Fly nobody else saw. ((:
An Ant, stopped dead in its tracks. I believe it did literally die in its tracks, as it was about to take another step. I got a number of shots of this over a time of nearly two minutes and it had not moved ‘at all’. Someone else may be able to confirm no movement of this creature.
And a few more later.
Mark Berkery ……. Click any picture and click again to enlarge
Black Wasp
Edited 13/12/16 – for clarity only. Text and pictures – from when I started macro – remain as then, 14/4/08.
I noticed a jet black insect with two bright yellow antennae crawling through the grass in a hurry at dusk yesterday. A wasp, looked like. About three centimetres long. I bent to have a look and arrived at ground level just as the creature started to make its way up a blade of grass.
The grass was only six inches long but it was off the ground and relatively safe. The wasp seemed agitated and I thought it was out of place for it to be in the open as the sun was going down. So I went to get the camera for a better look.
On close inspection it was obvious what was the matter. An ant had a grip of the side of one wing. Chances were it couldn’t fly with the ant’s weight throwing it off balance and ruining its aerodynamics. And it was getting dark.
The ant had only one thing in mind. I have left bits of fruit out for these ants, to get a closer look. But they are not interested. They prefer meat.
*A word about these ants. They are only tiny, maybe three or four millimetres long, but they have Herculean strength. I have seen just a few of them pulling the body of a big fly a hundred times their own weight along the ground, relentlessly. They are everywhere around the house and I have come to respect them as the cleaners. They tidy up everything they can use, anything dead – or alive, moths wings left over from the frogs dinner, anything. I have even seen one take on a jumping spider – and lose. But they are numerous, untiring and capable of phenomenal effort.
As I started snapping I noticed the ant on the wing wasn’t the only problem. There was another one attached to one of the black wasp’s feet. The wasp was swinging and shaking its leg while keeping it at a distance from its body.
If a second ant were to get on its other wing it would be a goner for sure. How did the ants get on it in the first place? The wasp must have stumbled into a stream or swarm of ants for two to get such a hold of it. It did well to get away with only the two hangers on.
At the top of this blade of grass, for the next few hours, I witnessed a mighty struggle indeed. A life and death struggle. The wasp couldn’t turn its head enough to get at the ant on its wing but this was the greatest threat so it focussed its attention here while keeping the other at a distance.
Without flight the wasp was surely dead. I watched it perform all sorts of manoeuvres to try to dislodge the ant but for a long time nothing worked. It turned every way around the blade of grass and, eventually, by design or fortune, the ant was dislodged. I didn’t see it go.
But I did see it being eaten, in pix six, seven and eight. Where the wasp is standing up on the tip of the grass, an almost triumphant stance. But the fight wasn’t over, in fact it raged on for ages. There was still the one on the leg which couldn’t be ignored.
He wasn’t going away just because he was on his own. I shot it all from every angle trying to keep it all in focus, in the dark, by the light of a dying torch. I tried different things to highlight the action but the fact is I couldn’t see what I was getting until later.
Out of a couple hundred shots I got a few reasonably good ones to illustrate the event. I think so. In pix nine and ten it is obvious the wasp won out and in the morning there was no sign of it. I assume it flew away on its own business.
In the end the ants had taken on more than they could handle. At least one of them paid with his life. The one on the wing. I suspect the other went the same way.
The little ants don’t give up and run away. The wasp was persistent, and stronger in the end.
Nature's Place 
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