The scope of nature

The patterns and textures of the natural world have always inspired and amazed me.

When you add a camera to a microscope, a whole new awe-inspiring world emerges.

​One petal from a dark red day lily turns in a kaleidoscope of shapes and colors. 

Wings from some unfortunate silk moths expose the intricate patterns and designs in their scales.

A hindwing from a polyphemus moth revealed black and white sculpted scales.

​A piece of a cecropia moth wing showed even more elaborate scale shapes. A few more wings from some mystery moths unveiled some more unique shapes and patterns.

​I had yet to find a butterfly wing to examine. I kept checking automobile grilles for possible specimens. 

Meanwhile, the garden and its blooming flowers provided a bouquet of textures and surprises. Sunflowers, black-eyed Susans and bee balm all appeared to have hairlike structures on their petals. 

Not to be outdone by the moth wing motifs, a magnified photo of a turkey feather displayed a fairly uniform design. 

While the microscopic views of wings and petals were fascinating, they failed to compare to the sights I saw in just a couple drops of pond water.

There were so many creatures.

Trying to identify them was quite a challenge for me.

​I managed to track down a cyclops.  "Cyclops is one of the most common genera of freshwater copepods, comprising over 400 species," www.inaturalist.org said on an identification page.  
Other underwater critters' identities still eluded me after several hours of internet searching. 

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Meanwhile, I've been logging some specimens for some homegrown crime scene investigations. Gathering hair samples from all the pets, I planned to track down the culprit behind future vandalism and destruction of my property.

However, their hair was pretty much everywhere. So, locating the exact perpetrator will be tough.

​That's just the nature of things 'round here.