Coastal Journal: Insects are supermodels in photographer's eyes

Often-maligned insects have a man in their corner in Robert Brown.

Brown created an insect haven in his small condominium yard off Laskin Road last year. Since last spring, he has photographed close up almost 80 species of insects, most of them beneficial ones.

Brown made the bugs feel at home by planting herbs instead of the annuals that he once used to spruce up his flowerbeds every year.

The proof of the pudding is in more than 100 insect photographs he has taken since the weather began to warm.

"I got tired of impatiens and annuals," Brown said. "They look good but they don't do anything. You can't eat them and the bugs don't want them."

Now, Brown and his wife, Laney, have an ample amount of herbs to season their meals.

Brown lets them go to flower and then the bugs savor them, too. He has rosemary, basil, thyme, mints and other herbs, along with several varieties of sage that bloom throughout the year. Brown has found that insects are strongly attracted to nectar in the small heavily scented blooms on most herbs.

Nectaring insects in a garden help with pollination and good insects dine on bad insects, often eliminating the need for pesticides.

An avid photographer, Brown decided to document his insect visitors. He plans to spend his spare time this winter trying to identify the ones he didn't recognize and learn more about their habits. When not photographing insects, Brown works with with his wife in their business, Surety Title.

Using a Nikon automatic digital camera, Brown began taking pictures in early spring. By August, he had more than 100 photos. He has pictures of several species of wasps, bees, flies, butterflies, beetles, caterpillars, crickets, katydids, ants, leafhoppers and more.

"Laney asked, 'What are you going to do with all these photographs?' " Brown said.

The question turned on a light bulb in his brain, and "Gabriel's Big Book of Beautiful Bugs" was born.

Gabriel is the Browns' oldest grandson, Gabriel Cardenas, who lives in San Deigo. He is turning 6 in September. Gabriel already is an avid reader and it occurred to Brown that a birthday book featuring all the insects would be a fun present.

Brown inserted one 4-by-6-inch insect photo into a photo album page with room for two photos. Then he inserted a plain 4-by-6 filing card of information geared to a 6-year-old in the other slot.

Cards accompanying some photos are general educational statements such as: "Many people call them 'bugs' but they are really insects." Some are questions such as, "Can you point to the antennae on this wasp?" or "How many legs can you count on this beetle?"

Brown hopes the book will help Gabriel develop a "basic attitude about nature, about the value of it and not to be afraid."

Brown would like to see everybody, not only Gabriel develop an appreciation for insects and become "more aware of all the beneficial insects - big and little."

Brown uses the Web site: www.bugguide.net along with the Peterson and Audubon Society guides to insects to help with identification.

READERS' CLOSE ENCOUNTERS

Correction  My head was on backward  in last week’s column. The sharp-shinned hawk has a more squared-off tail and the Cooper’s a more rounded tail tip.

More Cooper’s hawks  Bud Ory  sent a wonderful photo  of a young Cooper’s on the ground at Waterford Apartments on Lake Smith. The hawk was holding its wings widespread, protecting its prey,  which Ory said could have been a snake.

John and Nancy Watters  sent photos of a beautiful young Cooper’s hawk, dining on a mockingbird on their deck in Broad Bay Point Greens.

Monarch migration news  Bill Newton , who was conducting hydrographic surveys aboard the NOAA ship,  Thomas Jefferson, e-mailed this news: “I am up off of Menemsha Bight, on the water, of course, around Wood’s Hole, Buzzard’s Bay and Martha’s Vineyard, Mass. I thought you might like to know that I am surrounded by monarchs that have started their southerly migration here and thought I would let you know they will be arriving in the beach area soon. Up here the morning air was nippy and today’s high was around 68. So, the monarchs have gotten the signal to start moving out. They are on their way!”

Mini-mockingbirds  Susan Wenzel in Red Mill wrote that “a threesome of tiny blue-gray gnatcatchers” visits her yard every evening to “comb the river birch trees for insects. They always start in the far right tree and move to the middle and finish with the far left and then disappear for the evening.”

These little birds look a little like very small mockingbirds. They swish their tails back and forth and even mimic a few sounds when they sing.

Photo ops  Todd Been  and Wendy Bowhers  in Kings Grant sent in a photo of a bird they couldn’t identify. It was a bald female cardinal that had lost her head feathers, perhaps in a molt gone awry or a mite infestation. This time of year, some birds seem to go through this phase.  Aubrey Webb  gave me a photo of a two raccoons and a fox enjoying a bird seed dinner together in his Little Neck yard. Norfolk Botanical Garden sent a photograph of a pipevine swallowtail butterfly caterpillar, one of the first pipevine caterpillars to be seen at the garden.

UPLOAD YOUR CLOSE ENCOUNTERS SNAPSHOTS

What surprises or puzzles have you come across in nature, or do you have a tidbit of local lore? Send e-mail to barrow1@cox.net. Include name, neighborhood and city. If you have injured wildlife, call the Virginia Beach SPCA, (757) 427-0070.