A Small Visitor

I was enjoying a lovely, coolish morning on the deck with camera in hand, looking for a early morning visit from the humming birds. We usually see two, one who whirrs and drinks midair, and one who sits and drinks. I'm playing with the lenses and lighting about which I feel fairly ignorant. Then I looked down and saw this large beetle about an inch and a half long. Never seen one before. Clueless as to what it was. For some reason it made me think of Michael Keaton in Beetlejuice. Looked it up on my electronic friend PC and found it was a Banded Alder Beetle, or Banded Alder Borer Beetle on some pages.



Both the beetle and me were in the shade so I didn't have to figure out any surprise lighting issues. I was so thrilled to see something I've never seen before and actually get pictures of it. It's nearly 1:30pm now and its still sitting, moving little so it might be on its last legs. It chews and nests in rotted bark and dead wood and is not considered a pest in Washington. I did see where collectors buy them for upwards of $50 on the web. Sorry, this one is going to stay where he/she is, I mean really, would you sell a guest just because it took a nap on your deck?

By the way my spellchecker didn't like how I spelled whirrs; it suggested I substitute whores. I'd better keep an eye the old spellchecker.