In the late afternoon, when the sun shines on the landscape from an oblique perspective, the animals and plants in the urban park in Berlin appear colorful and without cast shadows. But we don't see their world with our own eyes as they perceive it. Insects see different color spectrums. And that's important, because no fast-running, fast-flying, or fast-hopping insect can afford not to find its food animal prey or food plant.

A small piece of earth with everything that lives on it and in it represents countless small micro-worlds that are tightly woven together. The honey bee on the dandelion flower sees the deep, warm yellow of the plant as a crimson that glows invitingly from the mostly gray surroundings. 

The nettle plant louse, on the other hand, does not have to fly far to get from one stinging nettles food plant to the next, it even prefers hopping in case of a threat. It doesn't notice the dandelion blossom. The dying nettle, however, supplies the dandelion with nutrients.

Both the aphids of a nearby bush and the hopping plant louse are always in danger of being eaten by lady beetles. But the red warning color of the beetle only warns its predators such as birds or lizards against inedibility.

The small plant-sucking insects, on the other hand, do not heed this warning. Insects can mostly not see colors in the red spectrum. The threat appears to them inconspicuously dark or gray. Aphids prefer the yellow color spectrum.

Therefore, they rely on visually sensing the Predator's movements or smelling its glandular secretions. And then all that remains is a quick jump, helpless flight, or hoping that good shepherds are nearby in the form of ant workers.

A male of the moth Taleporia tubulosa rests among the grasses. It doesn't want to see too much, and it doesn't have time for that either, since it only has a very short lifespan.

And for this it needs above all its olfactory senses to localize the sex pheromones of a wingless female, hopefully waiting somewhere nearby.

How we humans perceive a landscape is significantly influenced by the colors we see. If the colors change, we see a completely different landscape, even if it has otherwise remained completely unchanged. 

If the color is completely missing, this means an unusual visual experience for us, which surprises us and allows us to take a closer look. Therefore, black and white photography is a particularly inspiring art form.

© Stefan F. Wirth, early summer Berlin, urban park Rehberge, 2023