Wasp-on-the-mountain
A few weeks ago you got a close look at the inflorescence of snow-on-the-prairie. Now you’re getting a look at its sister species, snow-on-the-mountain (Euphorbia marginata). On September 2nd I’d been driving home after photographing at two other locations in northwest Austin when I spotted a few of these familiar plants and decided to stop. Once I got close, I saw that a wasp was busy working the flowers. Like some other insects I’ve seen on flowers, this one kept moving pretty quickly, so I used a high shutter speed, 1/800 of a second, to keep from ending up with a blurred image of the wasp.
© 2018 Steven Schwartzman
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That’s very interesting Steve. I searched on my blog and found a variegated Euphorbia I posted about last year, from Dunedin Botanic Garden but its a lemon colour and the species is characias with a cultivar name of Tasmanian Tiger. Your plant is gorgeous and its amazing that its just growing wild! I’m not a great Euphorbia fan but I’d happily have both of these in my garden!
exploringcolour
September 14, 2018 at 4:55 AM
Euphorbia is one of the largest of all genera, with some 2000 species over many parts of the world. I’m happy we have two such pretty variegated ones locally. While today’s picture is necessarily a closeup because I wanted to highlight the wasp, snow-on-the-mountain can form dense groups. You can see two examples at:
https://portraitsofwildflowers.wordpress.com/2012/09/09/snow-on-the-mountain/
https://portraitsofwildflowers.wordpress.com/2016/10/22/dense-snow/
Steve Schwartzman
September 14, 2018 at 6:32 AM
Thank you!!!
exploringcolour
September 14, 2018 at 2:38 PM
Sure thing. I’m happy to promote our native plants.
Steve Schwartzman
September 14, 2018 at 3:34 PM
You did very well with this capture!
Pit
September 14, 2018 at 10:00 AM
I don’t mind saying so myself. Some of the other pictures weren’t good, but all it takes is one.
Steve Schwartzman
September 14, 2018 at 11:49 AM
The advantages of digital photography: one or two of the many we take will come out ok.
Pit
September 14, 2018 at 11:52 AM
Right. I couldn’t have afforded to take nearly as many pictures when I had to pay for film and developing.
Steve Schwartzman
September 14, 2018 at 11:55 AM
Some day, it’s going to stop raining and I’ll get to go searching for such wonders, too! I tend to shy away from wasps, but their details are fascinating. I especially like the way the background color in this photo complements the color of the wasp.
shoreacres
September 14, 2018 at 10:27 AM
How different your current wish for an end to the rain is from what people there wanted not so long ago.
You may have heard me say that my attitude towards wasps and bees is that I let them go about their work and they let me go about mine. Only rarely have I felt a need to be careful around them.
It’s good of you to notice the two-toned brown-and-green nature of the picture. I hadn’t stopped to analyze it.
Steve Schwartzman
September 14, 2018 at 11:54 AM
Great shot Steve !!
Bernie Kasper
September 14, 2018 at 4:00 PM
Thanks. This was one of my successful takes on the wasp.
Steve Schwartzman
September 14, 2018 at 4:50 PM
Very nice image!
montucky
September 14, 2018 at 8:55 PM
A crisp wasp, we could say.
Steve Schwartzman
September 14, 2018 at 9:55 PM
Fabulous details captured!!
norasphotos4u
September 14, 2018 at 9:08 PM
I was pleased that I could get close enough for this kind of detail.
Steve Schwartzman
September 14, 2018 at 9:56 PM
Nice work, Steve. In the heat of the sun wasps are constantly in motion and a real challenge to capture. I find the thread-waisted wasps fascinating. It’s hard to imagine anything that delicate surviving flight.The only wasps I’ve had a problem with are yellow jackets. The rest and I co-exist pretty well…outside the house.
Steve Gingold
September 15, 2018 at 4:12 AM
I’m not surprised that you’ve had to contend with wasps’ quick motions. It makes sense that heat correlates with their movements, though I can’t say I ever thought about it.
I learned recently that bees evolved from wasps that gave up eating meat and switched to flowers. Today’s picture makes clear that at least certain kinds wasps have added the new food source without giving up the old.
And like you, I don’t practice coexistence with them in the house.
Steve Schwartzman
September 15, 2018 at 7:13 AM
So . . . where is the mountain?
tee hee
tonytomeo
September 15, 2018 at 8:46 AM
There’s mounting evidence that the picture amounts to a lot.
Steve Schwartzman
September 15, 2018 at 9:12 AM
tee hee
tonytomeo
September 16, 2018 at 2:13 AM
Insects are fascinating creatures when you get up close and personal… this is a wonderful shot.
RMW
September 17, 2018 at 10:04 AM
Thanks. Because my emphasis is on native plants, I often find insects and spiders on my subjects. Some critters hold still, while others move so much they’re hard to photograph. Wasps are generally in that second group, so I was pleased to get a good picture this time.
Steve Schwartzman
September 17, 2018 at 11:39 AM
Great shot … 🙂
Julie@frogpondfarm
September 20, 2018 at 3:33 AM
Yes, I’m pleased with it.
Steve Schwartzman
September 20, 2018 at 4:41 AM
Hahha, good one. I’ve been scratching my head, trying to think whether I knew of a plant called wasp on the mountain. Finally I had a chance to read the post and was delighted to see this fine fellow. Our wasps look different.
melissabluefineart
October 15, 2018 at 2:03 PM
Actually we have many kinds of wasps here, some of which look quite different from this kind.
Glad you enjoyed my playing around with the title wasp on the mountain. We have another Euphorbia here called fire-on-the-mountain, which some in Texas call native poinsettia:
https://portraitsofwildflowers.wordpress.com/2011/10/09/fire-on-the-mountain/
Steve Schwartzman
October 15, 2018 at 3:10 PM
Oh yes, I can see that.
melissabluefineart
October 16, 2018 at 8:53 AM
The native one is often a duller red than the specimen I featured, and than the Mexican species.
Steve Schwartzman
October 16, 2018 at 10:53 AM
That seems to be the way of it with native plants.
melissabluefineart
October 17, 2018 at 9:14 AM
Ah, but not always. There are plenty of bright native wildflowers here as well.
Steve Schwartzman
October 17, 2018 at 10:13 AM