Visitors in the Garden!

I love garden visitors don't you?  

I took a quick photo walk around my yard and spotted a

few little visitors.

I found this sweet moth resting on top of a cosmos flower.  

Fall seems to be their season. 

Lots of different varieties congregate around my porch light in the evenings.

And of course the days are still warm enough for the flies.  There are usually at

least 5 to 6 on a flower.  They are busy trying to snap up the last nectar 

of the season before the cold sets in.

I found this daddy-long leg perching on top of a seed head.

These guys are great in the garden.  

 Also known as Harvestmen these bugs are arachnids, but not spiders -- in the same way that

butterflies are insects, but they are not beetles.  Harvestmen have one body section (spiders have two) two eyes on a little bump (most spiders have eight), a segmented abdomen (unsegmented in spiders), no silk, no venom, and a totally different respiratory system, and many other differences.  Also not all daddy-long legs have long legs!

Weekend Photos

I found the most amazing mushroom this weekend while I was out on one of my 

walks.  It totally fascinated me, with it's strange shape and oozing bright red liquid.

I think it's really beautiful!  Alaska just has an amazing assortment of 

mushrooms....I will definitely have to look this one up 

in a mushroom book.

An old rotten stump was encrusted with this family of fungus.

 These beautiful death mushrooms are everywhere right now.

I came across this nice little spider on a mushroom.  He sat still only 

for a few seconds.  Just a few seconds more and I could 

have captured a better view of him.

I absolutely love this little cluster of mushrooms.  They look like a bouquet of 

flowers.  Autumn is fast approaching in Alaska so I will have

to hurry and take a lot more photos in the next couple of

weeks!

As usual I hope you enjoy these lovely 

portraits of Alaska.

Getting Up Close to Nature :o)

Alaska does have some interesting butterfly's and bugs.

Many of them I have yet to 

identify.  They are all beautiful and interesting to look at.

Beautiful butterfly's like these two examples.

And strange bugs that are totally unique.
I found this one walking around on my deck.

And this one on my front porch.

Amazing colors and varieties for such a cold place.

Each one has it's own great face!!

Grasshoppers abound in august in the grassy fields.

Tiny bees pollinate the wild flowers.  

I love to take close up photos of bugs.  These tiny creatures are 

overlooked in our everyday lives.  Their beauty amazes me

and its fun to take their photos

and share them 

with you!