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I found this Phidippus jumping spider wandering around on my living room ceiling. Before releasing it outside I thought Id take a few photos, and considering that its abdomen looked a little small, I gave it a two-week old cricket to eat. These photos were also a test of a new flash bracket and...

This video shows a tiny juvenile Central American harvestmen (Acromares vittatum) very rapidly devouring a chironomid midge (like a mosquito that doesnt bite). I shot this video last weekend on my kitchen table using 3 tabletop LCD lamps. Unfortunately I didn't get the colour balance quite...

Last weekend I was enjoying the beautiful weather by preparing a nice BBQ dinner for the family. We had just sat down at the table (out on the deck) when my youngest son pointed out a “spider carrying another spider” (as he put it) on one of the deck posts. It turned out to be a juvenile...

Hi all, I have a large all glass vivarium: 3 ft tall x 3 ft tall x 1.5 ft deep with sliding glass doors. It can hold substrate or water to a depth of about 10 inches and is well ventilated via 2 perforated aluminum panels. Lighting consists of 4 daylight compact florescent bulbs and two 75w...

Hi all, I just found a source for some ghost mantids here in Vancouver. He has 8 nymphs available--I don't know what stage, I assume L2. He wants $25 each (which I know is a lot, but this is the first time I've found them available locally). I'll probably buy at least 4 to raise and hopefully...

Photos of a "filth fly", genus Muscina . These flies are found worldwide, commonly hanging around livestock facilities, restrooms, outhouses, cadavers; hence the rather unfortunate common name of filth fly... Photographed with an Olympus OM-D EM-5, 60mm macro lens, and flash. Cheers, EC...

I haven't posted here for ages! For that matter I haven't done much photography for ages. I didn't lose interest, life just got a bit too busy. But spring is here and its time to break out the camera gear and start shooting some bugs. In the meantime I've been going through my files and came...

The other day I discovered a pair of half-black bumble bees (Bombus vagans) busily mating on my back deck. Naturally I took photos. But I also shot a video and uploaded it to YouTube. It’s a bit silly, and the staff of National Geographic has no reason to be worried (yet). But it was fun to...

Out on the back deck of my house I have two large saucers that hold a number of small pots of carnivorous plants, including a couple of cape sundews (Drosera capensis). Well a couple of weeks ago I went out and I don’t know if there had been a midge convention on my deck or something, but the...

I took these pictures of a boreal jumping spider (Phidippus borealis) feeding on a western tent caterpillar (Malacosoma californicum) last June. I spotted the spider just after it had caught the caterpillar and was dragging it across the leaf of one of the banana plants in my garden. It’s always...

Yesterday I grabbed my sweep net and went out into the garden to mess around and see what I could collect. After a couple of sweeps through some bushy plants I looked in the net and saw what I first thought (with my lousy vision) was a mosquito or midge because of the size and the long spindly...

A European paper wasp (Polistes dominula) trying to feed on the tiny droplets of nectar secreted on the underside of the operculum of a yellow pitcher plant (Sarracenia flava). As you can see the wasp had a very precarious hold on the slippery lip of the plant. You can tell that this wasn’t...

I attracted this gorgeous flesh fly (Sarcophaga sp.) by putting the remains of a sockeye salmon out on my deck (as part of the “Flyday” series on my blog). These flies aren’t too skittish (at least not when they are feasting on some fine BC sockeye), so photography was straightforward. The Zuiko...

Every Friday I post photos of a different species of fly on my blog (I title them “Flydays”; corny, I know). This past week’s post was about Lucilia sericata, the common greenbottle (http://wp.me/p2wM8r-uT); which is easily my favourite fly. Greenbottles are blow flies—feeding and laying their...

I recently bought a couple of Thai micro crabs (Limnopilos naiyanetri) to photograph and add to my aquarium. These critters were really tiny and my aquarium is chock full of wood and plants. I knew that once I added the crabs I would be lucky to ever see them again; so I took the time to take...

Here is another picture of a zebra jumping spider that was hunting midges on my kitchen screen door. This spider chose to sit on the door’s white plastic frame. I was shooting with a ring flash, so the lighting is very flat. It’s not quite the same as shooting in a white box, but its close. I...

I’ve been taking photos of zebra jumping spiders (Salticus scenicus) that have been hunting mosquitoes on the screen door to my kitchen. These spiders are really endearing in their movements and “attitude”...it’s too bad they are so tiny. Imagine how much fun they would be if they were the size...

Last weekend I was out collecting green aphids to feed to some baby mantids. I discovered that every time I walked through a patch of Scotch broom I ended-up with numerous of the little bugs aphids scattered around on my shirt. So I would just crash through the plants, pick off the aphids...

Not too much of a story here...I put a drop of maple syrup out in the garden to try and coax ants to stop for a taste and pose for some photos for my blog. This was my favourite. Unfortunately I have no idea what species it is... Olympus OM-D E-M5, Zuiko 35mm macro, Olympus FL-36 flash, F11 @...

A few weeks ago I acquired a Chinese mantis (Tenodera sinensis) egg case. The egg case hatched this past week. Now I have lots of little mouths to feed! This little specimen posed very obligingly for me as I was feeding them fruit flies. There is always something very satisfying about watching...