In a previous post I showed some of the food a male Eastern Bluebird brought in to feed his chicks. This crane fly prey had Steve and I scratching our heads.
Male Eastern Bluebird with crane fly caught mid metamorphosis – Nikon D500, f7.1, 1/640, ISO 2000, +0.3 EV, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light
This image shows what both Steve and I had in our viewfinders. I can’t remember who said “What is that?” but both of us were confused by what we were seeing. To me it looked like a sandworm from the movie Dune was eating the crane fly at first and I laughed about that. I’ve never even seen that movie.
Male Eastern Bluebird with crane fly caught mid metamorphosis close up – Nikon D500, f7.1, 1/640, ISO 2000, +0.3 EV, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light
Both Steve and I went into research mode and soon found out that the bluebird had caught a crane fly in the process of metamorphosis from the larval stage to its very short adult life. It was super short because the bluebird fed the crane fly to the chicks.
Additionally, there is a pill bug in the bill of the male bluebird as this close up clearly shows.
Male Eastern Bluebird with crane fly and pupal casing – Nikon D500, f7.1, 1/640, ISO 2000, +0.3 EV, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light
This last image shows the pupal casing of the crane fly near the male Eastern Bluebird’s right foot, on top of the nest box.
I’m at a loss when it comes to crunching the numbers on the likelihood of capturing this exact moment: witnessing the crane fly’s metamorphosis from larva to adult, with the added complexity of the bluebird’s role in the capture and our timing for the perfect photographs of this event. It’s truly mind-boggling.
You just never know what you’ll see or photograph in nature. You have to be there sometimes to believe it.
See Steve’s account of this amazing bluebird and crane fly experience on his site here.
Life is good.
Mia
I’m doing two posts today so I can try to catch up with all of the incredible things I am currently seeing.
Click here to see more of my Eastern Bluebird photos plus facts and information about this species.
what an amazing capture. Serendipity at its very best.
Very cool! Wonderful photos and capture.
Time to buy a lottery ticket! Fascinating to see the Crane Fly in this stage. Daddy Bluebird is looking pretty good, especially as he’s still pulling double duty.