What happened?

 

This is a valid question after I haven't posted in my blog for three weeks now. September is usual a very busy time for me because of an annual trade show at the McCormick Center in Chicago. As always, our company was  an exhibitor at PRINT 2013 and right before, during, and after the show is very little time for me to pursue any photography projects. But the real reason for my time of silence is that my MacBook went out of business just a couple days before the show started. The repair took longer than expected and it was a painful time to deal with it. I will spare you all the details, I'm just happy to have the darn thing back... :-) Thank you to all of you who visited my blog despite nothing new was posted here!

We are packing the stuff for our upcoming vacation. However, the weather was too nice to be inside all day long and so I took Cooper, our little dog, and went for a walk on the Heritage Trail. The trail down in the valley of the Little Maquoketa River was once a railroad track. This grasshopper enjoyed the warm September sun on one of the new boards that tell about the history of the little towns in the valley and the railroad that ones connected them. We have plenty of grasshoppers here and I usually don't pay too much attention, but I really liked the light and the colors it revealed on this little bug.

Nature clicks #177 - Pallid-winged Grashopper (nymph) ???

 

The last day of this holiday weekend became a very warm one. The bird traffic in the yard has slowed down and usually days like this are good to look for butterflies in the garden. This summer is different. We had very few butterflies so far and even the omnipresent Hackberry Emperor hasn't been seen yet. I saw a couple swallowtails earlier this spring but have not seen any lately. We wonder if the draught last year plays a role in this pattern.

I took a stroll this afternoon around the flower patches in our yard with the SIGMA 150/f2.8 attached to the camera. It is my oldest lens but I still like the optical quality of it. It has a nice focal length that gives you some distance for macro work on insects.

Joan and I are not sure about this grasshopper species even after studying all our books and guides about insects. We believe it is the nymph of a Pallid-winged Grasshopper but we are not 100 percent sure. The size (about 3/4") and the little wing buds on its side show that its metamorphosis is still in process.