Little Crazy, Mostly Bug

A native bee feeds from a Lanceleaf Coreopsis (Coreopsis lanceolata) in my garden!

A Chinese Praying Mantis stares back at the camera. This species of mantis is introduced, not native to the midwestern U.S. but I still enjoy seeing them in the garden. However, they also outcompete the native Carolina Mantis, which I have yet to see in person :(

Let me know if you guys would appreciate ramblings about bugs/how the photo was taken! I love ranting about insects, but also, not sure if people would like to hear that haha.

A little native bee feeds from a purple coneflower! I love these little guys, but they're so hard to get in focus!!!!

A little wasp guy sits on the edge of a Hosta leaf!

A honeybee hangs from the sticky nectar of the common milkweed. I watched this bee struggle, but it eventually managed to free itself from the sticky nectar and flew off!

A Chinese Mantis I captured last summer! If you want to see more pictures of her check out my profile!

A honeybee grooms itself on the edge of a milkweed leaf

Monarch Butterfly caterpillar!

A Goldenrod Soldier Beetle!

A silky field ant!

The absolute best little guy, the Red Milkweed Beetle! These guys are my absolute favorite insects, LOOK AT THEM!! They're such funny little guys too, once when I was photographing one a monarch butterfly flew over, and the beetle, in its shock, dropped and pretended to be dead. Their little "death" routines can be so humorously bad.

A Great Spangled Fritillary (Argynnis cybele)! This guy was so good and sat very still for me to get this shot!

An European paper wasp!

A native species of long horn bee, the Two-spotted Longhorn Bee (Melissodes bimaculatus). Literally the cutest little pollinators.

A close up shot of a Silky Field Ant (Formica subsericea)! The amount of shots I had to take just to get one in focus....

A Common Whitetail dragonfly! These little guys move so fast, very hard to get in focus.