Macrocosmos

Milkweed beetle was very shy - I have dozens of blurry pictures of it running away from me.

Milkweed bug was very shy – I have dozens of blurry pictures of it running away from me.

I don’t love trumpeting new technology because consumerism is evil and all that, BUT LOOK AT MY NEW TOY.

Exoskeleton looks like painted steel.

Exoskeleton looks like painted steel.

The olloclip 4-in-1 lens for the iPhone 6 has made my phone’s camera into the most exciting thing I currently possess. Inspired by Susan Kirt’s more professional photos of tiny creatures in the Calumet region, I’ve taken a stab at my own, low rent versions. In the last week, I’ve taken the following pictures, and while I’m the definition of amateur, it’s still been wonder-inducing the world that’s opening up to me.

Did you know a lady beetle's shell got this shiny? I DIDN'T.

Did you know a lady beetle’s shell got this shiny? I DIDN’T.

So I’ve just been stumbling around, chasing bugs with my phone like an idiot.

This bumblebee is all coked up on pollen.

This bumblebee is all coked up on pollen.

At the same time, I’ve been raising a giant swallowtail caterpillar (Papilio cresphonte) and feeding it wafer ash leaves, so naturally it’s become my most frequent model.

I don't even notice the little purple highlights with my naked eye.

I don’t even notice the little purple highlights with my naked eye.

The giant swallowtail caterpillar is not only great at mimicry, it’s great at THREE TOTALLY DIFFERENT KINDS OF MIMICRY. Sorry I’m yelling so much. I mean, I’m typing, but I get excited about this stuff. The first kind of mimicry it achieves is that young caterpillar instars look like bird poop – so much so that they confidently chill on top of citrus leaves because they know that only my dog likes to eat bird poop. Then, later in their maturation they look like little snakes, complete with a fake mouth on the top of its head that can also do THIS:

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You can see its real head under its fake tongue.

It has a fairly common caterpillar defense organ called osmeterium – a little inflatable appendage from its head that startles potential predators and also smells bad. It comes in a variety of colors depending on the species, but the snake mimic has further modified it to look like a red snake tongue, emerging from the fake snake mouth!

Its final mimicry stage is differently impressive:

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Chrysalis smells better than osmeteria.

The giant swallowtail chrysalis is designed to look like a broken twig – attached to a branch with a little lasso of silk. I love looking at this picture because of its symmetry. It’s programmed in its DNA to eventually look like a random broken twig, but the details are identically bifurcated even in the tiniest parts.

I have to refrigerate it because any giant swallowtails who make a chrysalis this late in the year plan on hunkering down for the winter. Sometimes it shakes. I love it.

Here’s another caterpillar friend:

Monarch caterpillar - does it have a tiny tiny creature on its antenna?

Monarch caterpillar – does it have a tiny tiny creature on its antenna?

And here’s a grasshopper who miraculously held still long enough to be photo-captured:

I wouldn't have seen its broken antenna without taking its picture.

I wouldn’t have seen its broken antenna without taking its picture. Also, its eyes are shaped sweet.

This golden jumping spider hitched a ride in my car after a very rainy workday I was at in Eggers Grove:

It's got a heart on its booty! The picture is a little blurry because I had to take it quickly while stopped at a stop light. Its on my dashboard.

It’s got a heart on its booty! The picture is a little blurry because I had to take it quickly while stopped at a stop light. Its on my dashboard.

And of all the pictures I’ve yet taken this week, this one is thus far my favorite:

White-faced meadowhawk.

White-faced meadowhawk.

The hexagonal pattern in the eye is what I keep looking at, but also it has a little hair coming out of its face! Such focus power! Click on it and zoom in.

I don’t mean to sound too prideful about pictures that I’ve taken, but I see it less about me possessing any talent and more about me possessing a way into seeing things I didn’t see before, everywhere, all the time. And I’m sure I’ll take lots more pictures, obvi, and get to learn buttloads about these individual creatures, their lives, and their role in their myriad ecosystems. Beauty inspiring empathy inspiring wikipedia research! Huzzah!

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Robb Q. Telfer

Advisory Group Member at Habitat 2030
Robb Telfer is a professional performance poet and organizes volunteers for habitat restoration with The Field Museum in Chicago. He serves on the Advisory Group for Habitat 2030 and helps moderate the Calumet Nature Nerds Facebook group here. He doesn't know how to science very good, but he's trying.

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