Two more kinds of spider webs in Guatemala
Posted August 07, 2017
  |
 |
Since spider web structure and spider web silk material is amazing biomaterial and remarkable structural engineering we enjoy looking for examples of every size and shape and structure of spider web.
Here are two frankly remarkable spiders: one for its web structure, the other for its size (but its orb webs are also of interest).
As soon as funding is available we can find examples of every spider genus in Guatemala.
Macro photography of spiders and insects in Guatemala, Central America
Posted July 28, 2017
 |
 |
If you enjoy doing macro photography, or like to see the professional results from other photographers, take a look at the macro photography, most of which is accomplished with a Canon M-EP 65mm 5X macro lens. |
Most Nikon macro lenses are 1:1 or 1:2; the Canon lens is 5:1.
Friendly orb spider and other species outside the front door
Posted July 10, 2017
 |
Since we prohibit the use of pesticides outside and inside (except for mosquito spray for your feet, inside), we have lots of helpful spiders both inside the outside the office. I prefer to have spiders capture the mosquitos rather than to use room-spray. There are probably 80 or more spiders happily residing inside the office. And this week we found four outside with their webs within a few inches of each other.
With the wind the spiders were moving, so no way to do stacked focus (in depth focus) and since the webs were high it was tough to get the camera parallel to the spiders. But at least we got good snapshots. We will have our team identify the genus and species but wanted to post at least one view now.
What was interesting is that the spiders were completely different species (yet very close together).
Giant moth at 8:30 pm, Guatemala City
Posted July 5, 2017
 |
Went outside to see if the pregnant opossum was still wandering around (it was gone). But much to my surprise saw a giant moth “the size of a small hummingbird.”
If flew so fast there was no way the camera could focus on it (or even keep the month in the viewfinder). The photos are blurry but eventually we would be able to identify it.
I estimate it is a pollinator? Time will tell. It had more color and beautiful design than I expect for a moth.
Bees pollinate at least this species of Heliconia
Posted July 4, 2017
 |
Over and over again biologists emphasize that some species of heliconia are pollinated “only” by hummingbirds. So much to my pleasant surprise we found dozens of stingless native local bees buzzing around several of the Heliconia collinsiana in our Mayan ethnobotanical garden overlooking Guatemala City. There are plenty of hummingbirds elsewhere in the garden, but I must admit I have not yet noticed them running after any of our four species of local native Heliconia flowers.
I estimate we have minimum of three species of stingless bees happily flying around our garden, plus some much larger bees (with stingers) which are attracted to the Brugmansia flowers (very common garden flower, but not documented to be native specifically to Guatemala).
I would not rule out hummingbirds pollinating heliconia out in the wild, but we have all kinds of pollinators happily flying around our garden, and so far have seen only bees working away at the Heliconia flowers.
Pregnant opossum wandering around our yard (Guatemala City)
Posted July 03, 2017
 |
Found what appeared to be a very pregnant opossum in our Mayan ethnobotanical garden (in the hills overlooking Guatemala City). It did not hiss, nor run away fast. It simply climbed up the vines on the wall (surrounding the property).
Quetzal birdwatching and bird photography, Alta Verapaz, Guatemala
Posted June 20, 2017
 |
Quetzal came to the Cecropia (Guarumo) tree for food, 5:10 pm, Ranchitos del Quetzal, June 15, 2017.
Photo by Nicholas Hellmuth, Nikon D5, AF-S NIKKOR 400mm f/2.8E FL ED VR lens on Gitzo tripod with Wimberley WH-200 gimbal tripod head II), overcast sky. Pure sunlight (almost no flash would reach as far away as this bird was).
This is cropped down since a 400mm lens will simply not capture a view of any bird at this distance. We hope to have a 600mm lens by July, but frankly I estimate that the only way to photograph a bird this far away would be to use a Swarovski digiscoping system.
The quetzals come to feed on the guarumo treetops about 5 to 6 am and 5 to 6 pm (the worst possible times of day for “sunlight” photography in a rainy cloud forest).
