Tag Archives: photography

Pleasing Fungus Beetle

Two of us were hiking on a beautiful ridge trail and had stopped for a rest and a snack. It was a gorgeous day, cool breezes keeping us comfortable in the shade of an old tree. As I ate my snack I took out my butterfly binoculars and studied the various little creatures inhabiting that part of the mountain. I saw a beetle and recognized it as the Pleasing Fungus Beetle, with its beautiful blue spotted coat. The beetle and I spent a delightful quarter of an hour together. I watched it climb over bits of debris, ending up on a small stone. The stone sparkled with thousands of tiny pieces of mica. The beetle seemed to like the stone, and wandered around, eventually centering on a spot which it circled many times before settling down for a brief respite. It reminded me of a dog going around in circles before plopping down for a nap. After a few more journeys around the stone, my friend spread its blue wings and flew about 6 inches to the next rock, and then tumbled out of my view.

Pleasing fungus beetle

Pleasing Fungus Beetle

 

 

My new blog

At my retirement party, ten years ago, I was given a set of luggage and a digital camera. My wife and I soon put the luggage to work, traveling to England, and a few years later to California, Minnesota, Pennsylvania, Australia and New Zealand. The camera launched me into a career as nature photographer, resulting in two nature books, and hours of bliss hiking around Arizona. In this blog I plan to share some of my nature experiences (and pictures), as well as paintings, stories, and whatever else comes into my head. My dad, Donald Frank Rose (1890-1963), wrote a daily column published in the Philadelphia newspapers called “Stuff and Nonsense.” This blog is sort of a stuff and nonsense project – the stuff being mostly things I am learning as I continue to explore the wonderful world of nature, and the nonsense being little human interest accounts from my present and past experiences. Thanks for joining me.

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