I like taking pictures of bugs. They're a fascinating reminder that alien creatures are all around us. We don't have to find extraterrestrial life to see the bizarre paths that life can take on its multitude of evolutionary paths.

I always keep my eye open for dark spots on leaves and branches ... as I'm always hoping to get glimpse of some new creature. If I don't have my camera on hand, I'm almost leary about seeing a new bug, for I'll be depressed to not capture it on film.

These images are of bumblebee moths (sometimes also called the hummingbird moth). They like the nectar in thistle flowers. These neat creatures come out on nice sunny days, and you can easily mistake them for bumblebees or even hummingbirds.

The bottom four pictures show a the bumblebee moth being devoured by the yellow crab spiders that wait in ambush around the heads of thistle blooms.

I took these photographs at Darby Creek in the late summer of 1999. These photos were captured on film ... most of my images these days are digital.