Posts in Category: butterfly
Another Swallowtail
Eastern Tiger Swallowtail. Sargentville Maine
Are you tired of Swallowtails yet? I have never seen as many Eastern Tiger Swallowtails as there were flying on the Blue Hill peninsula on the Maine coast this past weekend. In fact, in four days I saw way more Swallowtails than I have seen in the total of my life up to that point. They were crossing the roads, hovering over fields, among the trees of the forest, on the rocky beaches…everywhere. If you sat still anywhere outside for more than 5 minutes you were almost guaranteed to see one float by. They were particularly fond of a patch of Lupine and Wallflower growing in corner of the yard where my daughter’s wedding was held. I saw as many as a dozen at once working the patch, and there were at least a couple every time I chanced by. Since they were actively feeding among the Wallflower, they were relatively easy to photograph…and I brought back a lot of Swallowtail pics. 🙂
Sony RX10iii at 840mm equivalent (600mm with an in-camera crop to 10mp for the extra reach). 1/800th @ ISO 100 @ f4. Processed in Lightroom.
Back view: Tiger Swallowtail in Wallflower
Eastern Tiger Swallowtail, Sargentville Maine
I shared a front view of Tiger Swallowtails in the Wallflower at the house where Emily got married for the Generous Eye yesterday. This is the back view. 🙂 It is a beautiful butterfly either way you look at it.
Sony RX10iii at 600mm equivalent field of view. 1/250th @ ISO 100 @ f4. Processed in Lightroom.
Malachite Green
Green Malachite, National Butterfly Center, Mission TX
For some reason, many of the butterflies at the National Butterfly Garden this year when I visited a week ago were relatively worn specimens. I don’t remember that from previous visits, but I only get there once a year, always in November. The National Butterfly Center gardens are open gardens, not enclosed in any way, so the butterflies you see there are not captive breed…they are wild butterflies and have to make a living in the wild. It shows, by November. The Green Malachite is one of my favorite butterflies. I have only seen it 4 or 5 times, always at the National Butterfly Center, so you can believe that when someone called out from the trail along the top of the berm that one was showing, I hustled right up there. The light was terrible…an overcast day and the butterfly was deep under cover among the plants on the far side of the ditch on the other side of the berm.
These shots were at 2000mm equivalent field of view with the Nikon P900. Hand-held at 1/30th @ ISO 1100 @ f6.5. Processed in Lightroom.
Back-side view.
Two-barred Flasher
Two-barred Flasher, National Butterfly Center, Mission TX
Another panel (three shots this time) of another Rio Grande Valley specialty…The Two-barred Flasher butterfly, from the National Butterfly Center gardens in Mission Texas. The blue on this butterfly is often so intense that it “burns out” in a normally exposed photograph…losing all detail. I always feel that this one got shortchanged in the name department. Something more exotic is certainly called for!
All shots with the Nikon P610 at 1440mm equivalent field of view. Processed in Lightroom and assembled in Coolage.
Silver Emperor Butterfly
Silver Emperor Butterfly, National Butterfly Center, Mission TX
This is a collage of 5 shots of the Silver Emperor Butterfly, taken yesterday at the National Butterfly Center in Mission Texas. As though the butterfly were not spectacular enough with its rich brown body, yellow wing tips, and bold while band, in the right light the male shows a bright blue iridescence along both edges of the white. You can see a bit of it flashing in several of these shots. The name comes from the back-side view, and the silver color of the body and wing band. Again, if the angle of the light is right, it looks as metallic as the spots on a Fritillary. Note the green tongue showing in the two head on shots. All together one fine looking butterfly…and just rare enough to cause a stir whenever one is found on this side of the Rio Grande.
Nikon P610 at 1440mm equivalent field of view. 1/400th @ ISO 100 @ f6.5. Processed in Lightroom and assembled in Coolage.
Texas Bound
Red Bordered Pixy. National Butterfly Center, Mission Texas
I am leaving in a few moments for a 14 hour journey to the Rio Grande Valley Birding Festival in Texas. If all goes well, tomorrow morning I will be at the National Butterfly Center south of Mission, Texas, photographing butterflies and dragonflies. This shot, a Red-bordered Pixy, is from last year, taken with the Sony HX400V I was using at the time. The butterfly gardens at the National Butterfly Center are one of favorite places to photograph, anywhere, and then there all the other great spots in the Valley. It is a working trip and time in the field will be limited, but still it is always good. I am looking forward to some great photo ops!
Red Admiral
Red Admiral Butterfly, Lighthouse State Park, Cape May NJ
I have not been out this morning to see if the front pushed any other birds in, but yesterday was certainly another Yellow-rumped Warbler day at Cape May. There were also lots of Red Admirals…mostly well worn specimens…probably migrants. They were, mostly, moving fast and fluttering high. For some reason this Admiral sat nicely for me, in good light. This collage shows both front and back-side views. The front side view is a tele-macro at 1440mm equivalent field of view, but the back side view is a true macro at 95mm equivalent. I was within a few inches of the butterfly. 🙂 In my experience, you don’t get to do that often in the field.
Nikon P610. Front side: 1/250th @ ISO 125 @ f6.5. Back side: 1/1000th @ ISO 100 @ f4.8. Processed in Lightroom and assembled in Coolage.
Tailed Blue
Tailed Blue, Grange Insurance Audubon Center, Columbus OH
I mentioned yesterday that I had a good bug day, with several species of both butterflies and dragonflies. This is, I believe, an Eastern Tailed Blue. It is a tiny butterfly, only about 3/4 of an inch from wingtip to wingtip. There were two, doing their rapid Blue spieling dance over a grassy path. I just about gave up on getting a pic, when both of them settled out and sat long enough for a few shots.
Nikon P900 at 600mm equivalent field of view. 1/500th @ ISO 100 @ f5. Processed and cropped for scale in Lightroom.
Monarch in Asters
Monarch, East Point, Biddeford Pool, Maine
East Point in Biddeford Pool Maine forms one boundary where the Saco River (or perhaps more exactly, Saco Bay) meets the open Atlantic. It is directly across a narrow channel from Wood Island and Wood Island Light. Perhaps because it sticks out into the ocean a ways and has some interesting vegetation, it is always a good spot to find butterflies, and Monarchs in the fall in particular. This seems to be a particularly large specimen, caught foraging among the New England Asters growing along the edge and in the under-story of a large stand of wild rose and other plants. From the overall brightness of the bug I am tempted to say it is freshly emerged, but in this close view you can see some wear on the wings…which might make it a migrant from further north.
Sony HX90V at 1440mm equivalent field of view (using 2x Clear Image Zoom). 1/250th @ ISO 320 @ f6.4. Processed in Lightroom.
Monarch on the edge of fall
Monarch Butterfly. Wells National Estuarine Research Center at Laudholm Farms, Wells ME
Laudholm Farms was one of the first places in the area to devote significant amounts of their meadow land to milkweed, and, consequently, it is one of the easiest places to see Monarch butterflies. This year has not been a great year for Monarchs, if you go by the number I have see at Laudholm and elsewhere around my patch, but I did find this large specimen working the Goldenrod in the meadows below and left of the farm buildings. It seems late to me…this image was captured just a few days before the equinox…but perhaps it is a migrant from further north fueling up for the flight south.
Sony HX90V at 720mm equivalent field of view. 1/400th @ ISO 80 @ f6.4. Processed and cropped for scale and composition in Lightroom.