I know what you're thinking...

You're thinking "why on earth is she blipping a wasp - euw!"  But you'd be wrong... just as I was wrong when I thought I was seeing a yellow jacket at the Montauk Diner.  In fact, this is a wasp-mimic fly, in the Syrphidae (hoverfly) Family and going by the rather unwieldy name of Spilomyia longicornis.  As soon as I saw it's eyes and short, stubby attennae, I knew it was a fly, but had to do a little research to identify it.  Anyway, I think it is really spectacular and deserved to be blipped.  And, since I do love photographing insects up close, it was also a perfect entry for the TT Freestyle challenge this week.  

It was actually a very busy day in the garden at the Montauk Diner with pollinators lined up to get a seat at one of the tables.  There was even one very late-season male monarch, guzzling nectar.  Mostly, though, there loads of hoverflies of several different species, bees, moths, and beetles.  Some of these insects will die in the cold days ahead, but many more will simply bury themselves in leaf litter or the bark on trees and slumber until the weather warms again.  If you'd like to see a small selection of images from today, I've posted 4 on Flickr starting HERE.

I have been spraying all the clothes for Costa Rica with Permathrin - hopefully enough to deter mosquitoes.

I'm looking forward to looking at all the TinyTuesday entries this week, and sending WWombat my top pick.  When I host TT, I can't even usually narrow it down to just 10 favorites, so how I'm going to manage to pick just one is beyond me.  

Cheers!
Debbi