NatureShots by Terri and David Norris

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NatureShots by Terri and David Norris

A photography blog and journal of photography and nature experiences. Our blog:
www.natureshots.net Nature Photography is a hobby for us.

Capturing images is a way to remember all of the beautiful sights we have seen in our travels and adventures.

09/16/2026

A couple of weeks ago I posted pics of a Say's Mantidfly that visited our UV night light set up.
Last night, the other mantidfly that is common to Ohio (but a bit less frequently seen) visited.
It's the Brown Wasp Mantidfly.
This little guy also uses Batesian mimicry for protection from predators. His yellow and brown striped coloring is designed to make him look like a wasp. Unlike a wasp, however, he's completely harmless unless you're a very small insect.
He perched on my hand for a while and did "throw some hands" briefly in a display of his superiority.

09/11/2026

In honor of those who sacrificed on 9/11.
25 years ago today I was in Columbus at the Ohio Department of Public Safety taking a trauma coding class.
At about 9am, several of us in the class who were involved in local and regional emergency response planning started getting pages activating us for the unfolding situation.
As the news and reports came in, some attendees left the class but the instructor refused to cancel. Her words were "the best thing you can do is learn how to code the injuries from these incidents."
I thought that she was being crass and self-serving until she revealed that she was from NYC. The company that she worked for was located in the Towers.
She was also receiving pages and updates about the status of friends caught in the destruction. Later, I heard that she lost multiple co-workers and friends. If she hadn't been scheduled to teach our class, she may have been in her office that day. Now I know that she was just rationalizing a way to keep going.....as all of us did in our own ways.
This is a video that I made shortly after the attack for the Clark County EMS Banquet. It still gives me chills. See less

09/10/2026

So, still seeing lots of Carolina Mantids in the yard.
This fellow got himself in a pickle (well, actually in a spider web).
I rescued him and was treated to a show as he cleaned all of the sticky web from his claws and legs.
His coloration is very unique....the red color of his abdomen is not something I've seen. And it was a very bright red!
After a bit of research, the red color seems to be seen more in older insects. It may also be from local diets, but I didn't see anything more specific.
I have warned him to stay clear of spiders!

09/09/2026

It's all fun and games until someone loses their head.....🤣🤣🤣
Seriously, I thought that I was in some Class C movie last night...."The Night of the Mantids."
Carolina Mantids were everywhere last night in our yard. Likely because of Miss Mantid sending her pheromones out in a "Yall Come" (pun intended) type of summons.
She's hooked up with one male, and several others were in-waiting.
I tried to warn him that the female mantis will often eat the male's head during breeding, but he was too enamored and chanced his fate. FYI...."If a female eats the male's head, his body can keep mating for several hours because his reproductive movements are controlled by nerves in his abdomen rather than his brain."

08/31/2026

Fun watching an Osprey fish today at Old Reid.
I was sitting on a picnic bench at the pond when I saw the Osprey dive into the pond closest to Croft Rd.
It grabbed a good-sized fish and was nice enough to carry it right in front of me to find a dinner perch.
Images are in reverse order as he approached.

08/30/2026

A cool dude from last night....
This is Say's Mantidfly. It's a bizarre-looking insect that combines the features of a lacewing, a wasp, and a praying mantis.
This insect uses batesian mimicry (an adaptation where an organism mimics other toxic species as a protection from predators). In her case, the yellow and black abdomen make it look like a wasp.
I am mesmerized by the eye colors, and always think of song about the "Girl with Kaleidoscope Eyes" when I see them.

08/25/2026

I had a cute little helper last night as I checked the shrubs for night insect life. 🐁🐁🐁
It was a White-Footed Mouse (notice the very white foot)!
I was surprised to find it so high in the shrubs, until I realized that these mice commonly hunt for insects and feed on them.
From iNaturalist:
"White-footed mice are omnivorous, and eat seeds and insects. They are timid and generally avoid humans. White-footed mice spend substantial time in trees and bushes, sometimes taking unoccupied old bird nests and building roofs on them."

08/09/2026

Thanks to Cedar Bog Nature Preserve for sponsoring Dr. Richard Bradley last night.
His presentation "The Brilliance of Spiders" was interesting and informative. After his talk, Dr. Bradley led a night spider walk on the boardwalk.
A great experience and here's some of the spiders we found....
Names in captions.

08/04/2026

I spent some time last night capturing the Comet 10P Tempel.
It was at its perihelion (closest to the sun meaning brightest) last night on August 3rd.
While you can't see the comet's tail, you can see the line of the dust trail.
"Comet 10P/Tempel was discovered by the prolific, late 19th century comet hunter Wilhelm Tempel on the night of July 4th, 1873.
There’s a unique feature seen in recent images of Comet 10P/Tempel. While the dust and ion tail of the comet is streaming straight back behind the comet as seen from our Earthly perspective, we’re actually seeing the razor-edge line of the dust trail from the comet, fanning out across its path. This is due to residual dust from ancient passages of the comet through the inner solar system. We just passed the orbital plane crossing for the comet yesterday on July 20th, meaning the thin dust plane bracketing the comet may reach its brightest this week."
Also....I was doing some moon imaging in preparation for tonight's big event.
"An abandoned SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket stage is set to accidentally crash into the moon on August 5, 2026 at 02:35am. Moving at 5,400 mph, the impact near the Einstein Crater will create a new crater but poses no danger to Earth."
It isn't known whether the impact will be viewable, but thoughts are that the dust cloud may be.
My moon pic shot with my scope last night showing the area of impact....all images shot with the Vaonis Vespera scope.

07/30/2026

I had great looks at the Full Buck Moonrise from our upstairs east-facing dormers.

Address

2630 Croft Rd.
Springfield, OH
45503

Website

http://www.natureshots.net/

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