For the identification of insects and other fauna and flora of South Africa.

Sunday, June 20, 2010

Pilansberg - Wild flowers - Part 7


I was there just after the rain and this means the ticks are out in full force, especially this little red ones. Needless to say, I did not do much walking that day.
He was clinging for dear life onto this grass stalk.


It seems it was the time when all the dragonflies were eager to have their photograhs taken too.


34 comments:

Jo said...

Wow, Joan, the photo of the tick clinging to a grass stalk is amazing. And I LOVE dragonflies, only they never sit still enough for me to photograph them! Have a wonderful day. Jo

Diane said...

Walking in the grass after a shower is not a good idea. I saw how ill my Mum was with tick fever and I never had any desire to follow in her footsteps! Great photos. Diane

Tony nile life said...

Well I am just about in the land of the living,
No walks for a while until my leg recovers from the beating I had. but i have my computer to keep up with you guys from around the globe,
and that tick is an awsome photo considering how small they are is the white flower a mallow The blue one is some kind of vegitable plant flower , and the dragons are the same as we have here in there hundreds along the banks of the Nile

Tony nile life said...

Ps my screen on the pc packed up the same day as the fracuss, they promised the new one it will be here later so I can keep up with my blog photos can only write posts on my laptop, as I only have the use of one hand until the bruising has gone,

Gaelyn said...

Can't blame you for not wanting to get into the wets with the ticks. They are creepy. Nice looking flowers and dragonfly.

SAPhotographs (Joan) said...

Hi Jo. The trick to getting pictures of dragonflies is to first stand and look where they constantly land. Then you go and sit nearby and wait for them to come back again. :) If you have lots of patience, you can get pretty good shots of them like that.

Hope you had a great weekend.

SAPhotographs (Joan) said...

I had tick fever myself Diane and that is why I am so leary of them now. It was NOT fun I can assure you. On top of it all I was in the middle of a tour so I could not even crawl into bed for a few days. :) I definitely do not want to get it again.

SAPhotographs (Joan) said...

Oh gosh Tony, what happened to you?? It sounds serious and I hope you are getting better and are alright now.

I dont know any of these plants at all but have just found a book which I hope I can learn a lot out of but it is going to take some learning again.

SAPhotographs (Joan) said...

Tony: I hope you have your new screen as I know that the last thing I want to be without is my computer. My monitor packed up the other day too and I had to spend 3 hours without my PC until the shops opened and I could buy a new one. It was hell!!

And your hand? Please let me know what happened.

SAPhotographs (Joan) said...

They are creepy Gaelyn. I will rather take snakes and spiders before the ticks. I guess it is about the only thing I really dislike about being in the bush.

Philip said...

Dragonflies :) my wife loves chasing them around taking photos only ever seen blue and red ones nice shots Joan

Sciarada said...

Ciao carissima Joan, I had never seen a red ones before, so it makes a tender clinging to save his life, beautiful the face of the dragonfly and flowers express the delicacy of nature.
Buona giornata

SAPhotographs (Joan) said...

These are quite common around Pilansberg Philip. I think it is about time she started a blog too. :)

SAPhotographs (Joan) said...

Grazie Sciarada. Spero che abbia fatto un bellissimo weekend.

Ho dovuto sorridere alla povera cosa aggrapparsi a quel modo. :)

Io amo le libellule ma sono così difficile da ottenere immagini di. Devi aspettare che loro per età a terra nel raggio d'azione in modo da poter ottenere una buona immagine ma di solito hanno un sacco di tempo per sedersi ad aspettare per loro. :)

Questi fiori sono così belli e mi chiedo perché non li prendono e li pianta nei nostri giardini? Io amo le rose e le altre sedi culivated troppo, ma questi sono così carina anche.

This Is My Blog - fishing guy said...

Joan: Fun captures of the bugs and flower, a good combination.

SAPhotographs (Joan) said...

Thank Tom. Diversity is always nice.

Craver Vii said...

That purple flower. The one just before the dragonfly. Is it sticking its tongue out at someone? How rude.

Shelley said...

I am glad you showed photos of a tick - I was always curious what they looked like and if I would be able to identify one if it got on me or my dog. The close ups of the dragon fly were brilliant too!

SAPhotographs (Joan) said...

Yes it is Craver and I agree, it is very rude of it!! LOL!! I cannot believe that even flowers misbehave nowdays. :)

SAPhotographs (Joan) said...

Thanks Shelley. You are lucky you do not have them there, or at least not so you notice them. These red ones are the worst of the lot.

Firefly the Travel Guy said...

You get closer to your dragonfly than I got to my one of the other day. That tick just gave me the whillies.

SAPhotographs (Joan) said...

Just lucky Jonker. :) Got to agree, they ARE creepy!!

troutbirder said...

I'm going to blunt on this one. I don't like , even fear woodticks, more than any other creature in North America. And probably South Aftica too, if I ever get there.

SAPhotographs (Joan) said...

I feel exactly as you do TB and would rather take anthing else besides ticks.

Hope you do make it here one day. :)

Unknown said...

The tick legs shot really impressed me! So repulsing but what a great shot!

SAPhotographs (Joan) said...

As much as I dislike ticks, I had to smile at the way it was hanging on like that. :) Thanks Jose.

Anonymous said...

Flowers..dragons and ticks..only you Joan could make that combination work.... @"}... Michelle

SAPhotographs (Joan) said...

LOL!! That sounds pretty awful Michelle. :) Must be something weird about me. LOL!!

Unknown said...

SOOOO beautiful. That dragonfly is gorgeous... flowers too. Wow... I am loving all of these!

SAPhotographs (Joan) said...

Thanks Krista. It was such a good day.

Mary said...

Terrific dragonfly and lovely flowers. I refuse to acknowledge the tick. I have a nice tick bite at the moment that iches a lot. I hate those little critters!

SAPhotographs (Joan) said...

LOL!! I hate them too Mary. :)

Becky said...

Oh, that Tick is a scarey thing. We were at the peninsula in Erie, Pa today and there are plenty of ticks there too.
Love all your shots.
Still waiting for Dragons up here. I've seen a few.
Pretty , pretty flowers.
B.

SAPhotographs (Joan) said...

They are no favorites of mine either Becky. It seems that they wait for the rain and then there is a huge amount of them hanging around like this looking for a meal. Yuck!!

I would have thought it was warm enough for the dragonflies by now but of course you had that late snow so I guess it will still take a while.