Flyday April 11, 2014: the fantastic and fenominal filth fly!

 

Muscina sp., sometimes called a “filth fly”

I haven’t posted a “Flyday” for a very long time. Originally, my goal was to post a different fly photo every Friday [“Flyday”, get it?…Yeah, I know groan…], but I dropped that ball a long time ago. Sigh…

A little warning, if you are eating right now you might want to wait and read this blog after you have finished…

Muscina sp., sometimes called a “filth fly”

These pictures are of a specimen (or specimens, it’s hard to know) of Muscina. This is a small genus of flies (less than 30 species) that are found worldwide, commonly hanging around livestock facilities, restrooms, outhouses, cadavers…you can see where this going can’t you? Yup, many of these flies breed in manure and on corpses. As if that wasn’t enough, they also defecate on food and spread disease by transferring fecal material stuck to their feet to food or open wounds. Hence the common name “filth fly”. To be fair, “filth fly” seems to be a widespread term for any type of fly that is attracted to feces, urine or dead things and tends to also be applied to flesh flies (Sarcophagidae) and blow flies (Calliphoridae). Apparently another name for the Muscina is “disease-causing flies”, but that just doesn’t have the same ring to it.

Muscina sp., sometimes called a “filth fly”

So how do you photograph these critters? Well, first you get some filth…

I took these pictures last summer the day after I had put out a piece of salmon carcass to attract flies to photograph (I do this quite often, see for example: Macro photographs of insects feeding on salmon: take 2). The salmon was long gone (thrown in the garbage after the shoot), but the “essence” of dead fish must have still been present on the wood the fish had rested on. Interestingly, the fresh fish had mainly attracted flesh flies, blow flies and yellow jacket wasps (Vespula sp.). But the next day (when the fish smell would have been rancid) it was these flies that were hanging around—along with the bald faced hornet that was trying to catch them. I wonder if that is the succession of arrivals at a corps too. I’ll have to check on that…

Anyhow, getting the shots was just a matter of patience—waiting for a fly to pause long enough, and in the right position for the picture. I shot at F11 as a compromise between depth of field and resolution.

Muscina sp., sometimes called a “filth fly”

I hope you agree that despite their rather unpleasant but ecologically very important natural history (well, maybe except for the whole defecating on food thing), they make for great photos!

Cheers,
EC

The technical stuff:
Camera: Olympus OM-D E-M5
Lens: Zuiko 60mm micro four thirds macro
Settings: manual exposure (F11 @ 1/160 sec)
Lighting: Olympus flash (I don’t remember which one or the setting—oops!)
ISO: 200

Update: way back on Aug 23, 2012 I posted a couple of fly photos I created using photo stacking (see: More image stacking: portraits of flies). I originally misidentified one of the specimens as Calliphora vomitoria when it was actually Calliphora vicina. Many thanks to Marcello for leaving a comment that corrected my mistake. That post has now been updated with new information.

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My year of posting videos—a little review

At about this time last year I bought my newest camera, an Olympus OM-D EM-5. One of the (many) attractions of this camera was the option of shooting high definition video—something I’d wanted to try my hand at for a long time. My goal was to complement my photography by producing high quality video of tiny critters to post on YouTube and my blog. Needless to say, video production is quite different from still photography and my learning curve has been steep. As a result (and due to the sheer lack of time) I have only created four videos, all of which I have shared on macrocritters.

My first video was: Western thatching ants in spring, March 2013 and it turned out painfully amateurish. I really can’t watch it without cringing a little [see blog here: My first attempt at video: western thatching ants in action]. The second was: Thai micro crab (Limnopilos naiyanetri) and was definitely better (at least I used a tripod this time) [see blog here: Portrait of a Thai micro crab]. My third video was: Bumble bees mating (of two half black bumble bees mating on my back deck last summer [see blog here: half black bumble bees mating]). This video was kind of fun to make [for me and the bees, badum tish…] as I edited different views and put it all to music. My final video (so far) was Charles goes on a zombie walk: my youngest son dressed as a zombie and interacting with other participants of the 2013 Vancouver Zombie Walk [see blog here: the 2013 Vancouver zombie walk]. This is easily my most ambitious and best video. I spent many hours working on the editing, selecting music and generally tinkering with the production. I consider it my magnum opus (so far) and actually still enjoy watching it. How can you go wrong with a video that has good music, a cute little boy and zombies?

So, after all these months I thought I’d present a little report card on how they have all been received on YouTube. As of today (April 8, 2014) their standings, from lowest numbers of views to highest are as follows:

In last place, with only 126 views is Charles goes on a zombie walk! I’m absolutely surprised at that! I guess good production, a cute little boy (and some cute if bloody girls) and zombies aren’t enough for the YouTube audience. Tough crowd.

In third place, with 380 views, is Western thatching ants in spring, March 2013 with 380 views. I bet all of the viewers are readers of this blog! Thanks folks!

In second place, with 766 views is Thai micro crab (Limnopilos naiyanetri. I have to admit, for21 seconds of footage of an obscure species of little crab, that doesn’t seem so bad!

Finally, in top spot (drum roll please) is: Bumble bees mating with an astonishing 1630 1649 views! Not only has it received far more views than any of the other videos, the number of views has been slowly but steadily increasing over the past few weeks. In fact, the number of views increased by 19 since I started writing this blog yesterday! A month ago there were less than 1000 views. Another cool thing is that if you google “half black bumble bee” the first three images that come up are of the same two bees and are from my blog (see ). That’s pretty cool! I guess the old adage is true, sex really does sell—even if it is between bees!

Cheers,
EC

Portrait of a bald-faced hornet

Portrait of a bald-faced hornet, Dolichovespula maculate. This species isn’t a true hornet; it is a type of yellowjacket wasp.

I have to say, I’m really digging this picture of a bald-faced hornet (Dolichovespula maculata). The cool thing is that I barely remember taking it last summer. As I noted in my previous post, up until last week I hadn’t picked-up my camera for months. But I did a lot of shooting last summer and have quite a number of images stored on my computer. So I went into my files to find something to post. I was going through a series of photos of flesh flies that I just barely remember taking when I came upon this portrait. What a nice surprise! And how the heck did I forget about this image?

I love the details in the face! The textured white face and black markings make it look like it’s wearing a mask made from an animal skull. I’m also fascinated by the way the wasp is resting with its front legs off the ground. I’ve noticed before that these critters do this, but I have no idea why. Does it allow a quick getaway, or maybe keeps the front legs free to help capture prey? If anyone knows, please leave a comment.

The sad thing is that is has been so long, and I have been so distracted by other interests (see I’m Baaaack) that I don’t remember all the technical details about taking the photo. I know I shot it with the OM-D E-M5 using the 60mm macro lens. But I have no idea whether I was using the Olympus RF-11 ring flash or the Olympus FL-36 flash with diffuser. I’m pretty sure it was the ring flash, but I’m not sure. I guess that is another good thing about posting on my blog—it gives me a record of my photography to refer back to and augment my admittedly spotty memory.

Wait, what was I talking about?

Cheers,
EC

The technical stuff:
Camera: Olympus OM-D E-M5
Lens: Zuiko 60mm micro four thirds macro
Settings: manual exposure (F11 @ 1/160 sec)
Lighting: Olympus flash (I don’t remember which one or the setting—oops!)
ISO: 200

I’m Baaaak!

So where the heck have I been? Lost in the wilds of South Delta? Nope. Abducted by aliens? Nope again. Kidnapped and seduced by Zoot, Dingo and the maidens of Castle Anthrax? Sadly, no.

Life just got really busy for a while. I have a demanding job, a long daily commute, two little boys that expect (rightly) lots of daddy time, animals to take care of, yard work to do…you know the drill. Basically I have only a couple of hours every week to devote to personal interests like photography.
Then in September I decided it was time to deal with some of the chaos in the back storage room. I moved everything out and started building shelves. Then I used the new space to build a tiny shop area. Of course a shop needs to be full of tools, so I began a rather expended tool shopping binge. And of course, I started a number of woodworking projects. I have to admit it was a real pleasure to finally have a place to work with my hands and build things.

The next thing I knew I hadn’t picked up my camera or blogged for months. But my photography was always in the back of my mind. I knew I’d get back to it once the shop mania finally burned out.
Well, last week I needed to take some photos of walrus ivory carvings for a report I’m publishing. I pulled out my camera gear and was surprised by how good it felt to start shooting again.
And now spring is, well, springing! The cherry trees are in blossom, flowers are sprouting…and I have had to start mowing the grass. Pretty soon I’ll start seeing critters to photograph.

I can’t wait…

Spring has sprung
The grass is riz
I wonder where them bugsies is?

Cheers,
EC