When I travel to India for training we usually hold the course at a resort. My last training course in India was held at the Golden Palms Hotel and Spa in Bangalore. One of the things that I really enjoyed was wandering the grounds looking for interesting critters or flowers to take pictures of. Today I will share some of the tiny critters that I found.

First, we have Gold colored ants:

I would pass this nest of ants on the way to my classroom and I would often try to get a good shot of them hard at work. This is one of my favorites as we have one ant clearly in focus while the others are a bit blurry. It is as if the aunt was posing for the picture while the others were busily at work. They would be especially busy after rain showers, which seemed to be a daily occurrence.

Next we have this little bug:Close to my room there was a plant that almost always had these nice multicolor bugs on it. I would try and get a good picture everyday, and this is just one example. I plan on trying to figure out what type of bug this is someday, so if someone knows please leave a comment. I just love the iridescent colors of this bug.

Now for a butterfly:Butterflies are always hard to get pictures of. I had to wait patiently for this one to land and pose for a picture. The Brown of the butterfly is contrasted against the colorful leaves of the plants. One of the real interesting things about the grounds at the Golden Palms, was that they had plants growing all over the place that here in the US, people have as indoor plants. Perhaps more on the plants at a later date :-).

Last, we have a spider:

I like the contrast of Black and Yellow on the spider’s body, and also the construction of the web. The white zig-zags really standout against the background of the picture. If you observe closely, you will also see that the spider is feasting on a little treat. It reminds me of the poem by Mary Howitt which starts: “‘Will you walk into my parlour?’ said the Spider to the Fly.”

I hope you enjoyed the pictures of the little critters.

Steven