chasing a dragon

last night, as i was inspecting my roses for new buds,

i accidentally bumped into this guy,

sleeping in one of my rose plants.

awakened, it quickly flew away.

but, i easily caught it maybe because it was too dizzy to move.

one of my childhood memories is that of chasing dragonflies,
aside from butterflies and grasshoppers.
me and my playmates would go the field, looking for them.
i find the dragons and damsels the hardest to chase.
you should be in "stealth" mode if you want to catch one.

even the slightest movement, they are able to sense,
maybe because we were kids who were very active and haven't got the control that
what we think was our stealthiest quietest movement was not what we think was,
maybe it was those big eyes that were able to see us from behind
or maybe those almost invisible wings and thin frame that makes it faster to glide from one position to another, making it very hard to see in the fields.

 

catching a dragon those days was a big deal.

it gave you the bragging rights.  yes, grashoppers are cool, butterflies are colorful, but the dragonflies were just different..

you could be very popular if you catch a large one.

which made me think, if this was a dragonfly i caught when i was a kid,

i'd be the topic of my playmates conversations, hearing stories

on how i caught THE dragon again and again and again.

but then, i'm a kid no more, only a kid at heart, still chasing dragons whenever i see one,

bringing back childhood memories, playing with them no more,

just taking some pictures and freeing THE dragon.

til we meet again my old friend :)

bugs' life

just sharing some pictures of insects we found at ate's garden last weekend.

it must be butterfly season!

ate's zinnias are attracting these beauties.

her pink single-petal zinnias are blooming profusely and

butterflies are gliding from one flower to another

sipping nectar.

my nephew actually caught several of them.

here's a black and blue one under the tico berry tree.

we then went to another corner of ate's garden and found these!
i wonder what's these bugs called.
lots of them living in the madre cacao tree.
creepy!

the most interesting insect we found that day is this.
it looks like a yellow lady bug.

look again! they're munching on leaves

and have those clear/plastic-like black dotted wings!

wonder what this one is called?

got any idea???

one blue bee?

look what i found today!

i was sitting in front of my computer, working as usual, when this insect came in from the window
is it a bee, a wasp? what kind of insect is it?
i googled it and can't find the ID of this insect.
i find it cool as it has an unusual color, took a picture, and shooed it away.
it has a stinger and i don’t want to be stung AGAIN!
EDIT:  FOUND IT!
IT IS A CUCKOO BEE :)

wordless wednesday: first flight

joining wordless wednesday...

ouch!

 while watering my plants this afternoon,

i totally forgot that these nasty insects were building their home in our palm tree.

i carelessly sprayed the leaves and in a blink of an eye, one of them stung me then flew back to their nest.

i felt sudden pain as if pricked by a needle then felt my skin burning.

i immediately checked the skin and it had a tiny red dot with a skin wheal around it.

i went inside the house, sat in front of the computer, and searched for first aid treatment for this.

the pain was sharp and my skin was hot and throbbing...i was kind of worried.

who would think such small creatures could hurt someone as big as me?

good thing i found this by searching "ïnsect sting first aid" and followed the instructions written on the website.

i'm still wondering though what kind of insect it is.

i found them the other day and told the husband to just let them build their nest there because they seem harmless, but boy i was wrong.

(maybe they were just protecting their little ones and i disturbed them.)

now i am contemplating on moving their nest, but how?

i don't want to destroy them but i don't want any stings from these little bad guys either :(