{"id":149243,"date":"2025-06-23T03:01:03","date_gmt":"2025-06-23T08:01:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/?p=149243"},"modified":"2025-06-22T18:48:02","modified_gmt":"2025-06-22T23:48:02","slug":"blooming-sunflower-shadows-and-bugs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2025\/06\/23\/blooming-sunflower-shadows-and-bugs\/","title":{"rendered":"Blooming Sunflower, Shadows And Bugs"},"content":{"rendered":"

I appreciated how this volunteer sunflower glowed against the darkly shadowed background yesterday morning after the sun rose above the trees.<\/p>\n

\"Sunflower,Sunflower, shadows and bugs<\/span><\/p>\n

The vibrant yellows of the sunflower would have stood out even without the shadows in the background. But with them, those yellows positively popped and seemed to vibrate through my viewfinder, and I knew they\u2019d do the same in my photos too.<\/p>\n

What I wasn’t expecting?<\/p>\n

\"Sunflower,Sunflower, shadows and bugs with inset<\/span><\/p>\n

The tiny and not-quite-as-tiny bugs my photo would show. There can be a universe full of insects in a single blossom, and we need those insects now.<\/p>\n

The inset above shows a Lateral-lined Sharpshooter, Cuerna costalis<\/em>, a member of the leaf hopper family. Leafhoppers are small, sometimes colorful insects.<\/p>\n

Another thing, leafhoppers remind me of cicadas. Some of them even look like tiny cicadas!<\/p>\n

The other small white circles show some of the ants on the blooming sunflower. The largest of the white circles shows another leafhopper, where I didn\u2019t have enough data about it to ID.<\/p>\n

Instead of water-sucking, sterile grass that needs constant mowing and maintenance, why not plant wildflowers or even cultivated flowers like these volunteer sunflowers that draw in insects?<\/p>\n

A simple row of sunflowers provides plants for the insects to eat, insects for the birds to eat, and seeds galore.<\/p>\n

I hope more people plants flowers. Small steps help.<\/p>\n

Life is<\/em> good.<\/p>\n

Mia<\/p>\n

Click here<\/span><\/a> to see more of my wildflower, shrub and tree photos.<\/p>\n

More info on cultivated sunflowers:\u00a0Cultivat<\/span>ed Sunflowers and Their Wild Relatives<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I appreciated how this volunteer sunflower glowed against the darkly shadowed background yesterday morning after the sun rose above the trees.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":149236,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[13950,13951,5344],"tags":[9430,6627,6098,6663,16547,13331,13330,6518,2217,16523,16545,16546,16548,2315,5052,105,16524,5059],"class_list":["post-149243","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-arkansas","category-sebastian-county","category-trees-shrubs-and-flowers","tag-ants","tag-bloom","tag-blooming","tag-blossom","tag-cuerna-costalis","tag-cultivar","tag-cultivated","tag-flowering","tag-flowers","tag-helianthus","tag-lateral-lined-sharpshooter","tag-leafhopper","tag-leafhoppers","tag-summer-3","tag-sunflower","tag-sunflowers","tag-volunteer","tag-yellow-flowers"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/sunflower-shadows-and-bugs-mia-mcpherson-0238.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p11Mom-CP9","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":148369,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2025\/06\/13\/blooming-sunflower-volunteer\/","url_meta":{"origin":149243,"position":0},"title":"Blooming Sunflower Volunteer","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"June 13, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"Today I'm sharing a simple photo of a beautiful blooming Sunflower volunteer that popped up on its own, grew, and bloomed without any planning.","rel":"","context":"In "Arkansas"","block_context":{"text":"Arkansas","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/locations\/arkansas\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Blooming Sunflower volunteer in Arkansas, Sebastian County","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/sunflower-volunteer-low-light-mia-mcpherson-0171.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/sunflower-volunteer-low-light-mia-mcpherson-0171.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, 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County","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/locations\/utah\/davis-county-utah\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Sunflower and a bee, Farmington Bay WMA, Davis County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/sunflower-in-bloom-mia-mcpherson-7527.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/sunflower-in-bloom-mia-mcpherson-7527.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/sunflower-in-bloom-mia-mcpherson-7527.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/sunflower-in-bloom-mia-mcpherson-7527.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 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2023","format":false,"excerpt":"When I'm not photographing birds, I photograph whatever catches my eye. Last September, my focus shifted to sunflower photography near Farmington Bay WMA.","rel":"","context":"In "Davis County"","block_context":{"text":"Davis County","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/locations\/utah\/davis-county-utah\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Sunflower blooming in Utah, Farmington Bay WMA, Davis County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/sunflower-in-bloom-mia-mcpherson-3904.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/sunflower-in-bloom-mia-mcpherson-3904.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/sunflower-in-bloom-mia-mcpherson-3904.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, 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