Witness to a murder

It threatened to spittle some rain by the time I was ready to blip so I snipped off one of the new Rudbeckia blooms, the first of many to come. I'm excited about having some yellow flowers in the yard...very cheerful.

I set up in my workroom and as I was peering through the viewfinder, I noticed movement on the center button. A small head with antennae appeared out of the spikes and when I pulled away to see, it was nothing more than a white speck, about a millimeter long. Realizing that the only way I could observe was through the lens, I continued. A second head with antennae appeared. This one was brown and larger, about three millimeters long...some sort of beetle. My only thought was: Aww, they live on the same flower and share its bounty.

I snapped a few hoping they would just magically walk into the narrow field of focus...I moved the light around while still looking through the viewfinder to see if I could backlight it more...took more snaps and the very next moment, too quick and stunning for me to capture, the brown beetle speared the small white bug (shown here moments before before meeting his demise) and carried him off, kicking helplessly. All my horrified cries did nothing to stop the crime. The murderer then dragged the victim in between these spikes where he is probably feasting on him right now.

It was like watching a David Attenborough nature show with a little "Horton Hears a Who" thrown in. It is also a grim reminder that it is a speck-eat-speck-world out there. :)

I shall hand in my witness report to the bug police now.