Photographing the Cosmos: 2024
Welcome to another post about the Cosmos, my favorite flower in our backyard. These pictures are from 2024, and like mentioned in the previous post, I have decided to transfer my notes on the insects pictured here to my website. Additionally, I have done my best (using google) to identify the species, but there may be mistakes. Enjoy!
House Cat: Felis Catus. Our journey begins with my cat, who finds shelter from the sun under the growing leaves of the cosmos. He likes to spy on his squirrel buddies from this hiding spot too!
Painted Lady Butterfly: Vanessa Cardui. Butterflies are a frequent guest to the cosmos, and this beauty stayed still long enough for me to take a couple pictures. The white dots and black patterns are what marks it as a Painted Lady, the most common species of butterfly you could find in North America. The fact that it’s common doesn’t take away from its beauty, though.
In this image, the same Painted Lady shows off the pattern under its wings. The two dark circles are called eyespots, for the reason you’d expect. The purpose of eyespots is to trick predators into thinking the wing is actually the face; a butterfly could escape with slight damage to its wings, but getting its head bitten off would be pretty bad.
Goldenrod Soldier Beetle: Chauliognathus pensylvanicus. Our favorite beetle returns to our garden for yet another year. This photograph shows the soldier beetle on the flower of our mint leaf. I like how the antennae look like twigs!
Paper Wasp. The pattern on the abdomen allows you to differentiate paper wasps and yellowjackets; the paper wasp has more prominent black stripes, while the yellowjackets have more yellow stripes. Wasps are also a common visitor to the Cosmos, but I obviously have to be a little carefully when taking a picture. Best to not get too close! But its face is so cute. It looks like it’s wearing a mask.
Bluebottle Fly. Unfortunately, I couldn’t figure out which exact species it is, because apparently multiple species have teh same name. Anyways, these guys are really annoying when I’m in the home or trying to eat. But when this fly was sitting on a pretty flower, letting the sunlight reflect off its shiny green back, I had to take a picture.