Serendipity -Definition: "the faculty or phenomenon of finding valuable or agreeable things not sought for".

Taking a lot of digital pictures, I find that sometimes I see things (and hopefully learn) far more than I originally intended. At times this has taken the form of seeing things that I otherwise would have missed simply because they were too small. At other times, these observations occur because of the limited time that I would have while I was there. These serendipitous findings have something become obvious as soon as I put the pictures up on the computer. At other times, I have not realized this until long after the fact - even years.

When we returned from Borneo, I was particularly proud of this picture of a red stick insect that a guide had found by the side of the trail in Borneo. I included it in a slide show that I shared with family members:

I was immediately called to task by my keen eyed son, who pointed out that I had photographed two stick insects, the red male and a significantly larger brown female, with the two mating. At that point it became obvious to me, as I could match up the anatomic parts of the two, then identifying the six legs and antennae of the brown female.

Serendipidity has come in a variety of forms:

We were in South Africa in the summer of 2005, and near the end of the trip visited a penguin colony not too far from Capetown. I photographed numerous penguins. Several years later I was re processing the pictures that I had taken there, when I noticed that in one immature penguin, there were several ticks along the base of the bill.

Ticks are not the only insects that prey on much larger animals. Mosquitoes, which we have all come to hate, both as an annoyance and as a vector of disease, also can afflict other creatures. I have come to realize that even amphibians and reptiles can be annoyed similarly. Whether or not they are disease victims is uncertain to me:

Note the mosquito on the tip of this female snapping turtles nose, as well as at least two more in the lower right hand corner of the picture, along the side of the jaw. 

Bull frog, Great Meadows NWR, note the two small mosquitoes along the thing of rear leg, and another along frog's flank.

Even insects can fall prey to smaller insects. I have taken a lot of pictures of flies, grasshoppers, spiders, etc. Surprises are not unheard of even in that realm. Look at the head of this Borneo millipede (total length 10 -15 cm - 4 to 6 inches).

All along his dorsal surface, these tiny flies were congregating. (see entire millipede at http://michaelross.zenfolio.com/p990515880/h4ebfe296#h4ebfe296)

In our front yard, I have tried to get a closer look at creatures such as crane flies: I somehow positioned the macro lens to get a view of the underside of this crane fly. Note the orange mites with which it is infected: