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Turnip Reflex @turnipreflex.bsky.social · 12/01/2026

Ant getting honeydew from a keeled treehopper (Entylia carinata) #insects #macrophotography

An ant coaxes a small drop of honeydew from a treehopper. This is a form of mutualism, with the ants protecting the treehoppers and their nymphs from predators while receiving honeydew, the sugary by-product of feeding on plant sap.

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Turnip Reflex @turnipreflex.bsky.social · 27/12/2025

The Jagged Ambush Bug: Ambush predator (pic 1) and also a nectar drinker (pic 2) #insects #macrophotography

A jagged ambush bug hangs on to its prey, a bee about the same size as the ambush bug itself, or a little bigger.

An ambush bug has its rostrum (it's long, sharp, mouth part) extended into the blossom of a mountain mint flower.

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Turnip Reflex @turnipreflex.bsky.social · 20/12/2025

Brave little crab spider crawling on a jagged ambush bug (sitting in pearly everlasting flowers). #insects #spiders

A small juvenile crab spider crawling up the side of a jagged ambush bug, holding perfectly still and apparently ignoring the spider. I've seen ambush bugs eat all sorts of arachnids so that spider was playing with fire.

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Turnip Reflex @turnipreflex.bsky.social · 03/12/2025

My mountain mint has some of the most numerous and diverse visitors in my yard's plantings. #insects #plantnative

A bumblebee and a beetle (Macrosiagon limbata, a species of wedge-shaped beetle) share a cluster of mountain mint blossoms.

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Turnip Reflex @turnipreflex.bsky.social · 18/11/2025

Lacewing larva hunting among pearly everlasting flowers (Anaphalis margaritacea) #insects #macrophotography

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Turnip Reflex @turnipreflex.bsky.social · 15/11/2025

The appropriately named Long-necked seed bug (Myodocha serripes). #insects #macrophotography

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Turnip Reflex @turnipreflex.bsky.social · 28/10/2025

Early instar planthopper nymph - some sort of flatid planthopper. I couldn't really tell for sure when I photographed this what I was photographing, I just had my suspicions. #insects #macrophotography

Hidden in white fuzz on a plant stem, a white planthopper nymph sits mostly hidden. One of its eyes and some of the body markings are visible through the fuzz. The fuzz is a waxy cotton-like material produced by the nymph.

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Turnip Reflex @turnipreflex.bsky.social · 10/10/2025

Female parasitoid wedge-shaped beetle (Macrosiagon limbata) laying eggs in mountain mint #insects #macrophotography

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Turnip Reflex @turnipreflex.bsky.social · 08/10/2025

On the move! Bumblebee working our bee balm patch. #insects #bees

A furry bumblebee in flight from one bee balm flower to the next.

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Turnip Reflex @turnipreflex.bsky.social · 03/10/2025

Milkweed Leaf Beetle (Labidomera clivicollis), beautiful new regular resident on our property. #insects #macrophotography

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Turnip Reflex @turnipreflex.bsky.social · 21/09/2025

Four-eyes Red milkweed beetle (Tetraopes tetrophthalmus) #insects #macrophotography

Face-on view of Tetraopes tetrophthalmus (common name: Red Milkweed Beele), whose Genus and species name means "four-eyed four-eyes" more or less. It's antennae completely bifurcate the eyes into two parts each.

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Turnip Reflex @turnipreflex.bsky.social · 13/09/2025

Honeybee checking out the milkweed flowers #insects #bees

A honeybee (Apis mellifera) caught in midflight while it chooses a spot to land among a cluster of milkweed blossoms.

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Turnip Reflex @turnipreflex.bsky.social · 09/09/2025

Saw a weird looking moth on the side of my house and took a closer look. Zebra Jumping Spider feasting on a Labrador Carpet Moth. #jumpingspiders #spiders

A zebra jumping spider (Salticus scenicus, top) holds onto and feasts on a much larger moth, on a rough vertical surface.

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Turnip Reflex @turnipreflex.bsky.social · 07/09/2025

I saw a lot more of these Milkweed Leaf Beetles (Labidomera clivicollis) in my yard this season. Here's a couple of them helping to ensure I see even more in the future. #insects #macrophotography

A mating pair of milkweed leaf beetles facing the camera.

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Turnip Reflex @turnipreflex.bsky.social · 28/08/2025

Center of an early season Echinacea flower. #macrophotography

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Turnip Reflex @turnipreflex.bsky.social · 21/08/2025

Hoverfly on fleabane - little fly, little flower. #insects #macrophotography

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Turnip Reflex @turnipreflex.bsky.social · 18/08/2025

Cribellate orb weaver (Uloborus sp.) #spiders They can do a good job of looking like a bit of debris stuck in their web, but you get up close and they're fancy little spiders.

A spider in its web, its long front legs extended and held tightly together, and its shorter rear legs held against its abdomen. It's abdomen has two distinctive "knobs" or "horns", and it front legs have a feathery texture about two-thirds of the way down. Its tiny black eyes are just visible on its mostly hidden head.

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Turnip Reflex @turnipreflex.bsky.social · 15/08/2025

Peekaboo! spider. Dimorphic jumping spider (female). #spiders

A closeup of a jumping spider covering its eyes (in the process of grooming itself).

A closeup of a jumping spider, seeming to peer out over a pedipalp (in the process of grooming itself).

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Turnip Reflex @turnipreflex.bsky.social · 07/08/2025

Small carpenter bee (Ceratina calcarata - Spurred Ceratina) on Fleabane flower #bees #insects

Ceratina calcarata, the spurred ceratina, is a species of small carpenter bee. It's foraging on small daisy-like flower of a Fleabane plant (Genus Erigeron)

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Turnip Reflex @turnipreflex.bsky.social · 27/07/2025

Hello my nozzle-faced friend! Common picture-winged fly (Delphinia picta)

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Turnip Reflex @turnipreflex.bsky.social · 19/07/2025

A neat little hummingbird feeder I got as a Christmas gift. It's been very popular this summer, and the little birds have been checking out our monarda and monkey flower plants too. #birds #birdphotography

A little green female ruby throated hummingbird sips from a feeder. The red cap of the feeder is just about 1.5 inches (38mm) across.

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Turnip Reflex @turnipreflex.bsky.social · 25/06/2025

I've been kinda off social media lately. I'll probably drift back on eventually, but for sure I wanted to share this shot I got today of Summer Lovin' hoverflies, mating in mid-air. A shot that's been on my wish list for a while. #insects #insectphotography

Two hoverflies float against a dark, speckled background. Seen from the side, the top male fly is holding onto the female while it mates, its wings a blur.

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Turnip Reflex @turnipreflex.bsky.social · 23/02/2025

A Yellowjacket wasp gathering wood fibers from our privacy fence #insects

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Turnip Reflex @turnipreflex.bsky.social · 19/02/2025

I don't often get a good picture looking up at an ant from below, but they really like my tall sunflowers (Helianthus giganteus). #insects #ants

An ant perched on a slender sunflower stem.

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Turnip Reflex @turnipreflex.bsky.social · 30/01/2025

Extremely tiny wasps on some of my sunflowers from this summer. Well beyond my ability to identify. #insects #wasps

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Turnip Reflex @turnipreflex.bsky.social · 28/01/2025

Goldenrod soldier beetle on a cup plant flower, taken at a local park where the city has nurtured native plant growth. #insects #insectphotography #beetles

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Turnip Reflex @turnipreflex.bsky.social · 25/01/2025

Rudbeckia fulgida / Orange Cone Flower. Native to the eastern half of the USA.

Close-up black and white photo of of a Rudbeckia flower, petals radiating from a glossy dark center

Low angle close-up of a Rudbeckia flower. It's fully bloomed but fairly young, with a relatively smooth, glossy center

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Turnip Reflex @turnipreflex.bsky.social · 20/01/2025

Red-winged blackbird (female) photographed in a nearby park (Washtenaw County, Michigan). #birds

A femaled red-winged blackbird perches on a vertical talk, looking over its shoulder

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Turnip Reflex @turnipreflex.bsky.social · 19/01/2025

Here's a lovely little American Goldfinch foraging on our giant purple hyssop plant (Agastache scrophulariifolia). Plant for wildlife! #birdphotography

A goldfinch perches on a plant, holding a small bundle of seeds in its beak.

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Turnip Reflex @turnipreflex.bsky.social · 16/01/2025

A large male Eastern Carpenter Bee (Xylocopa Virginica) harvesting from Swamp Milkweed. #bees

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Turnip Reflex @turnipreflex.bsky.social · 14/01/2025

Sometimes you want to take a picture of your cat, and closest camera is your macro setup. Model: Babaghanoush #macrophotography

A very close up image of the tip of a cat's ear

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Turnip Reflex @turnipreflex.bsky.social · 12/01/2025

Today, some color photos of potted sunflowers...

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Turnip Reflex @turnipreflex.bsky.social · 11/01/2025

Some B&W views of a potted sunflower. Note: I'm transitioning away from my Meta accounts. This account will eventually absorb my IG account content, which means it will be a little bit more general, but still primarily focused on nature, macro, and my native planting efforts.

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Turnip Reflex @turnipreflex.bsky.social · 07/01/2025

Happy New Year! It's odd for there to be a huge winter storm in the USA and for Michigan to be left out. Here's some Michigan ice from a previous January. #winter

A close up photo of small icecicles, with small bubble formations visible inside

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Turnip Reflex @turnipreflex.bsky.social · 15/12/2024

Jagged ambush bugs - mate guarding. The actual act itself isn't terribly prolonged, but the male will stay in position for hours, even staying there overnight until the next day. So I tend to get quite a few 2-for-1 shots of these beasties. #insects #macrophotography

A male and female jagged ambush bug face the camera.

A mated pair of jagged ambush bugs sit amongst mountain mint blossoms

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Turnip Reflex @turnipreflex.bsky.social · 11/12/2024

My most popular 2024 photos on Flickr (Orchard orbweaver) and Instagram (hungry robin). #spiders #birds

A brightly colored spider resting in the center of its web

A robin fighting a tug o' war battle with an earthworm, which is stretched taut between the ground the robin's beak.

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Turnip Reflex @turnipreflex.bsky.social · 09/12/2024

Several very tiny spiders. 1. Crab spider almost getting stepped on by a skipper. 2. Translucent spider with small aphid prey 3. Little crab spider dwarfed by a soldier beetle. #spiders

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Turnip Reflex @turnipreflex.bsky.social · 06/12/2024

One of the new sightings in my yard this season: The Milkweed Leaf Beetle (Labidomera clivicollis). The Larva is...kind of cute, kind of gross...but the adult is quite a beautiful beetle. #insects #macrophotography

An adult red and black beetle on a milkweed leaf.

A strange larva, looking a little like a crawling brain with a row of spots running down its side.

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Turnip Reflex @turnipreflex.bsky.social · 04/12/2024

Heckuva year astronomically speaking. April 8th total solar eclipse photographed from Oberlin Ohio USA, Multiple auroras (photos from March 10 and Oct 10), and Comet C/2023 A3 (Tsuchinshan-ATLAS) photo from Oct 16. #astrophotography

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Turnip Reflex @turnipreflex.bsky.social · 30/11/2024

I like this little sequence of an ant heroically crossing the chasm between a swamp milkweed bud and leaf. This wasn't taken in my yard, but this specific milkweed plant I came across a few years back while on vacation was a big inspiration to me. 1/2 #insects #ants #macrophotography

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