Posts in Category: butterfly
Monarch in the Glade
The other day while hunting dragonflies along the Mousam river at Old Falls Pond I looked up to see this Monarch sitting on a bush about 10 feet away, perfectly backlit for a shot. In a normal situation that is easy reach for my Canon SX50HS and the 1800mm equivalent I shoot most bugs with, but this was the day I had forgotten the SD card in the Laptop after processing the morning’s images and I was left with only the 18x reach of my Samsung Smart Camera. That is a measly 432mm equivalent field of view. The Samsung does have Intelligent Zoom, which scales back the number of pixels captured rather than enlarging pixels to fill a larger frame and simulate a longer lens. It has two steps: 10mp and 5mp. I ran it up to the end of the 10mp range, which should be something like 600mm equivalent field of view. I am actually quite pleased with the results…not pleased enough to leave my Canon at home on my bug hunts, but pleased enough to be confident that the Samsung will deliver in a pinch, even for the occasional tel-macro.
Program with -1/3EV exposure compensation. Processed in PicSay Pro on the Samsung Galaxy S4 smartphone.
Awesomeness on wings!
You might remember from yesterday’s Sunday Thought post, that I was about to set out on my scooter in search of whatever awesome I could find…most likely having to do with waterfalls, dragonflies, and deep forest. I was thinking of Emmons Preserve along the Batson River where it tumbles down over some ledges in the forest in Kennebunkport. This time of year, there are Ebony Jewelwings there, one of our most striking damselflies, and you just never know what you will find along the trails that wander down from the dirt road to the river and back through the woods. And I decided, on the ride there, that I would poke around the meadows that boarder the preserve, since the dragonflies are moving away from the water to hunt the fields these summer days.
When I got there, of course, the folks at the Kennebunkport Land Trust, who manage Emmons Preserve, had anticipated me. I had forgotten that they had made a trail around the meadows that surround the Land Trust Office. It was perfect: a nice wide mown strip along the edge of the meadows, all the way around, with little side trails surrounding isolated copses, or up along the edge of a little pond I had not known was there. There were lots of dragonflies: Meadowhawks mostly, but a good variety, including a Mosaic Darner (that’s a family of dragonflies) that I have yet to positively identify.
And there was this amazing butterfly. I was well over 2/3s of the way around the meadows and had seen it in flight many times. Big and orange and very fritilleryish. I had about despaired of its ever landing, when I came back out of a side trail to the forest on the far side of the far meadow and found it on the Knapweed.
I believe it is a Great Spangled Fritillery, though it could considerably be an Aphrodite Fritillery. Both are about the same size, and have very similar patterns, and both are possible in southern Maine. I settled on Great Spangled as simply being the more likely.
Canon SX50HS. Program with my usual modifications. 1800mm equivalent field of view. f6.5 @ 1/1000th @ ISO 320. Processed in Lightroom.
Oh, and clearly I did find the awesomeness I sought. Lots of dragons…Ebony Jewelwings as expected and a new an new Darner!…Great Spangled Fritillery!…several tiny toads and Wood Frogs, a smorgasbord of mushrooms in odd shapes and all sizes, and the water tumbling down in the dappled light of the deep forest among moss and ferns. Very awesome!
Western Tiger Swallowtail
I shared a backside view of this Western Tiger Swallowtail from the Bird and Butterfly Garden in the Tijuana River Open Reserve a while ago, but today we can enjoy the full frontal view. And isn’t that weird, because, technically speaking, this is the “back’ of the butterfly. It is what is more commonly seen in the field, what is almost always photographed, and what is displayed in collections…so I suppose it is natural that we think of it as the frontal view.
Western Tiger Swallowtails are super common in southern California so no one else at the San Diego Birding Festival got very excited about my pictures, but for an eastern boy it was quite a treat, and fully justified my efforts in locating the Bird and Butterfly Garden, and the good people of San Diego’s efforts in building it. Of course, it was the only butterfly I found there.
Canon SX50HS. Program with iContrast and Auto Shadow Fill. –1/3EV exposure compensation. 1800mm equivalent field of view from about 5 feet. f6.5 @ 1/1000th @ ISO 250. Processed in Lightroom for intensity, clarity, and sharpness.
Common Buckeye: Merritt Island NWR
I was really hoping to bring home some dragonfly pics from this last trip to Florida. When I was in South Texas in November, there were dragonflies everywhere. I was not seriously looking at dragonflies last January when I was in Florida so I did not know what to expect. I hoped though. I kept my eye out at Merritt Island NWR, and I even got out of the car and walked a section of the dyke roads at Viera Wetlands. I did see a few (maybe 3) dragonflies in flight at a distance, but nothing I could either identify or photograph. 
The Butterflies, however, were very present. They were mostly Florida Whites, by the thousands, but I found a few Skippers, a Peacock, a Gulf Fritillary, and this well worn Common Buckeye as well. (All of the butterflies were well worn…summer butterflies lingering into winter, or migrants from the north.)
Canon SX50HS at 1800mm equivalent field of view (full optical zoom plus 1.5x Digital Tel-converter). f6.5 @ 1/1000th @ ISO 320. Program with iContrast and Auto Shadow Fill. Minus 1/3 EV exposure compensation. Processed in Lightroom for intensity, clarity, and sharpness.
Peacock and Skipper
The title is accurate, even if it sounds like a another crime show featuring partners with a complicated relationship. Fiery Skipper, one of the most common of the skipper butterflies, and White Peacock, certainly very common in January in Florida. Of course you don’t often see them posed like this in the same frame. 🙂 This is along one of the dyke roads at Viera Wetlands (Rich Grissom Memorial Wetlands) in Viera Florida.
Canon SX50HS. Program with iContrast and Auto Shadow Fill. –1/3EV exposure compensation. 1800mm equivalent field of view (1200mm optical plus 1.5x Digital Tel-converter.) f6.5 @ 1/1000th @ ISO 250. Processed in Lightroom for intensity, clarity, and sharpness.
Giant Swallowtail: National Butterfly Center
The National Butterfly Center has one of the best Butterfly Gardens in the nation, but I am coming, the more often I visit, to appreciate the much less managed trails through native vegetation that extend out from the garden proper. On this last trip I managed to capture several bugs there, with one very rare, that had not seen in the gardens. This is a Giant Swallowtail, not an uncommon butterfly in Texas or else ware, but a real treat wherever it is seen. I found it in native vines along the dyke-top trail east of the gardens.
Canon SX50HS. Program with auto iContrast and Shadow Fill. 1800mm equivalent field of view. f6.5 @ 1/1000th @ ISO 320. Processed in Lightroom for intensity, clarity, and sharpness.
Emperor Butterfly: National Butterfly Center
There are several Emperor Butterflies in the Rio Grande Valley. I believe this is the Tawny Emperor. It was taken at the National Butterfly Center gardens in Mission Texas. I like the way the light is catching in the wings and the revealing half open pose…not to mention those bright yellow tips on the antennae. Tawny Emperors in particular are attracted to rotting fruit, and there are several “feeders” at the National Butterfly Center…hanging baskets full of garbage…and generally covered with butterflies. A study in contrast.
Canon SX50HS. Program with auto iContrast and Shadow Fill. 1800mm equivalent field of view. f6.5 @ 1/500th @ ISO 800. Processed in Lightroom for intensity, clarity, and sharpness.
Blue-eyed Sailor, National Butterfly Center
You have already seen a few shots from the National Butterfly Center in McAllen Texas. The site was formerly known as the North American Butterfly Association Gardens, and the main attraction is still the well developed plantings and paths just this side of the Rio Grande River, which attract a wide variety of butterflies, dragonflies, and damselflies…both species common to the US side of the river, and quite a few more tropical species that are only found in the US right at the boarder in South Texas. This is the place for Green Malecite, Mexican Blue, Guatemalan Cracker, and any number of exotic skippers.
I happened to be there the same morning as a group of really serious lepidopterist (who had come for the Guatemalan Cracker) and there is nothing like a large group really knowledgeable eyes to pull the butterflies out of the bush. I would have missed many of the best bugs there, if it had not been for the delighted cries of the real butterflyers.
For instance, this is the Blue-eyed Sailor, a common butterfly from Columbia north through Central America and Mexico. It is found in South Texas as a stray from across the river and there are a few records of it as a resident. It is still very rare in the US. Quite a find really. What you see here, depending on the resolution of your monitor or laptop, is likely over life sized. I am certainly thankful for more experienced eyes.
Canon SX50HS. Program with auto iContrast and Shadow Fill. 1800mm equivalent field of view. f6.5 @ 1/250 @ ISO 800. Processed in Lightroom for intensity, clarity, and sharpness.
It was interesting to see the advantage the long zoom on the Canon SX50HS gave me. I could shoot over the shoulders of photographers attempting to creep close enough for a shot with their macro lenses and get the same image scale, without any risk of scaring the Blue-eyed Sailor off.
Red-crescent Scrub-Hairstreak
Increasingly Birding Festivals are as much about butterflies and dragonflies for me as they are about birds. I suppose it is just a phase I am going through. This week I am at the Rio Grande Valley Birding and Nature Festival in Harlingen Texas, and there is almost nowhere in the US that is better for butterflies than the Rio Grande Valley. As for dragonflies, there are actually more species in New England than anywhere else, but there are some dragons here I will, of course, never see in Maine. And I do pay attention to the birds as well!
I walked up on a knowledgeable gentleman photographing this Hairstreak at Estero Llano Grande State Park and World Birding Center yesterday. He was quite excited as it is a rare species: the Red-crescent Scrub-Hairsteak. I almost certainly would not have even seen it (it is tiny), and I certainly would not have seen it as anything special, if the gentleman had not been practically on his stomach trying to get a good angle on the bug. As it was I had to go ask.
With the reach of the Canon SX50HS’ long zoom I was able to get decent shots over his shoulder. Estero Llano Grande has extensive plantings for butterflies…and lots of ponds for dragonflies.
Canon SX50HS. Program with auto iContrast and Shadow Fill. –2/3 EV exposure compensation. 1800mm equivalent field of view. f6.5 @ 1/1000th @ ISO 160. Processed in Lightroom for intensity, clarity, and sharpness.