Posts in Category: butterflies and insects
9/11/2011: Black Saddlebags, Happy Sunday
Happy Sunday.
As I mentioned a few days ago in the Ruby Meadowhawk post, I have started what appears to be a little love affair with dragonfiles. Suddenly they are everywhere I look, I am taking a lot of pics, and my iPhone Audubon Field Guide to New England, which has a good section on dragonflies, is getting a good workout. Browsing there, a while back, trying to identify a dragonfly I had managed to catch with my camera, I came upon an image of the Black Saddlebags…one of the larger and showier of the New England dragonflies (found everywhere in the US east of the Rockies, as a matter of fact). Okay, so I want to catch an image of one of those! I saw a few in the air earlier in the summer during my rambles, but they never settled for a pic. Of course that just made me want one more. It turns out those early flies may have been vagrants from the south. The Saddlebags only reach adult stage in late summer here in Maine, so this specimen is most likely newly awing. And clearly more cooperative.
I saw it cross the beach and settle a the edge of the beach rose on the dunes (I was chanting “land, land, land” the whole way), but by the time I got there the Saddlebags had moved in a few yards. I had to maneuver among the rose bushes to get a shot. It was sitting in full sun, but deeper in among twigs and grass stems, and there was no clear shot that showed the full bug. The only way to get a full body shot was to stand in my own light and shoot the dragonfly in my shadow. I was pretty sure that as soon as my shadow touched it it would be up and away…but it sat.
And here is a full sun shot for contrast.
One spectacular bug!
Nikon Coolpix P500 in Close Up mode with the zoom setting overriden. 1) 403mm equivalent field of view, f5.6 @ 1/80th @ ISO 400. 2) 538mm, f5.7 @ 1/40th @ ISO 200. 3) 499mm, f5.7 @ 1/250th @ ISO 160.
Processed in Lightroom for Clarity and Sharpness. 1) and 2) adjusted for color temperature and Vibrance to more closely match the balance of 3).
Sunday thought: Every time I look at these images in the future, I will remember the thrill of taking them…and the feeling of deep gratitude and crazy joy that lasted all the way back to the car after. Right now, writing about it, and looking at the images, that same feeling is there, just behind the words. I am grinning here. I will probably take better pics of Saddlebags in the future…but these will always be special. Special in part because of the anticipation…because of wanting them since I saw the first Saddlebags in my reference and on the wing…and special because I had to dodge rose bush thorns to get them…but most special because of the feeling of being in the right place at the right time and ready for the blessing. No credit to me. The joy of these shots has nothing to to with self-satisfaction…it has everything to do with appreciation of the gift. (And not “my gift” as in “a gifted photographer”…but something I have not earned, and don’t deserve…an outright gift from someone who loves me.) While taking the images I was, of course, concentrating on angles, light values, zoom settings, and all the technical stuff of photography…and holding my breath (almost literally) lest the bug fly…but in a sense I was also totally absent from myself…completely caught up in the wonder of the moment. And when I stepped back down off the dune to return to the car, I was only aware of the gift. And grinning like…well…like a very happy man (or maybe boy). And that is what it is all about. Photography. Nature study. My new love affair with dragonfiles. To be so gifted I can only grin.
9/9/2011: Ruby Meadowhawk (I think)
I am pretty sure we don’t have any more dragonflies this year than any year…but I am certainly seeing a lot more. It began, suspiciously, when I got my new camera with its 810mm equivalent reach and efficient telephoto close up setting…which enables some very satisfying approaches to dragonflies. Suddenly they are everywhere. We have way more species in Southern Maine than I ever dreamed of, and I have now seen, and photographed, a good number of them. I am even learning their names…with the emphasis on learning. With each new fly, I go to my references and try to name it. I am never completely confident…and matters are not helped by the fact that even at this early stage I can tell that about a quarter of the images on the internet are mislabeled. 🙁
So I think, tentatively, that this is a Ruby Meadowhawk. I think, because if you do a search for images of Ruby Meadowhawk on the internet, at least a third of what turns up are obviously female Blue Dashers. Please, anyone who knows, correct me if I am wrong here.
Whatever this bug is, though, it is a striking contrast to the foliage around it. And you have to love the name: Ruby Meadowhawk…so I am really hoping I am right.
Nikon Coolpix P300 at 499mm equivalent field of view and Close Up mode, f5.7 @ 1/320th @ ISO 160.
Processed in Lightroom for Clarity and Sharpness.
9/4/2011: Question Mark: the Butterfly Bonanza Story continues. Happy Sunday!
Happy Sunday.
Yesterday I started the unexpected Friday Butterfly Bonanza story, and displayed a Mourning Cloak. Now, Mourning Cloaks are certainly spectacularly special, in-and-of themselves, but what made Friday even more special was the presence of two new (to me) butterflies in such numbers. The Question Mark above was the other abundant butterfly around the bush of unknown attraction along the Kennebunk Bridle Path. As I mentioned yesterday, the Question Marks were much more difficult to photograph, since they sit, most of the time, with wings folded. This particular Question Mark was, at least for a moment, fanning slowly, and I managed, by holding the camera one handed at arms length above and well to one side of my head, to get an angle that shows the wings to good advantage.
What follows is a more typical shot of a Question Mark, on the right side of the branch, balanced by a Mourning Cloak on the left. The two white marks on the back of the forewing on the Question Mark, are, by the way, the marks that give the butterfly its name.
Another shot of the QM with wings open, though in more challenging lighting.
And, just because I can not resist celebrating such abundance of beauty, another Mourning Cloak shot.
All with the Nikon Coolpix P500 out near the end of the usable zoom in Close Up Mode. Programmed auto. Processed in Lightroom for Clarity and Sharpness. Precise EXIF data can be seen by clicking the image and choosing “Show Details” at the top of the window.
So it is Sunday, and my Sunday thought has to do with such unexpected beauty right in my backyard. I had seen photographs of both these species, but I was not, honestly, even aware that they occurred in Maine, and certainly not in the numbers I saw on Friday, and certainly not in Kennebunk. Blessings abound.
I am also thankful this morning to see that a combination of Federal and Local conservation agencies and organizations have “officially” protected and intend to manage my favorite pocket sanctuary…the little section of the old trolley bed known as the Kennebunk Bridle Path where it passes along and through Rachel Carson National Wildlife Refuge lands beside the Mousam River near its mouth. There is even a new interpretive sign where the trail crosses Rt. 9. This little stretch has become my go-to place when I want a few moments to an hour (or two) of good things to see and smell and be around…and perhaps a photo op or two thrown in. It rarely disappoints. The place itself is as unexpected and as blessedly unlikely as the butterfly bonanza of Mourning Cloaks and Question Marks I found there on Friday. I do give thanks.
9/3/2011: Mourning Cloak
Yesterday was a bumper day for butterflies. I went out to do some digiscoping (capturing images through my spotting scope with a point and shoot camera. I have a new camera and it takes practice to overcome the limitations). Along the way I came upon a medium sized bush beside the Kennebunk Bridle Path that was the center of attraction for about 15 Mourning Cloaks, and maybe 10 Question Marks…plus a few small woodland moths. Actually I am totally uncertain as to the numbers since
I could never determine if the butterflies were coming back to the bush after leaving…or if they were being replaced by others. I had never seen either butterfly species, so a single specimen would have been a delight…but this was awe inspiring. I spent the better part of an hour observing and photographing…trying, of course, to catch open wing shots of both species. The Mourning Cloaks sit with wings open or fanning, so they were pretty easy, but the Question Marks sit with wings folded, and only occasionally fan, and I spent a lot of time trying to hit the shutter button at just the right second to catch open wings.
It was so much fun!
I plan to stop by that bush today to see if they are still using it as a rest stop (or whatever they were doing).
Nikon Coolpix P500 in Close Up mode (with the default zoom setting overridden). 1) 669mm equivalent field of view, f5.7 @ 1/400th @ ISO 160. 2) 235mm, f5.1 @ 1/200th @ ISO 160.
Processed in Lightroom for Clarity and Sharpness.
9/2/2011: Bugs on Stone, Rutland Water UK
In my one all too short walk around to the far side of the Visitor Center lagoon at Rutland Water, I found that the stone of the path seemed to attract a lot of bug life. They were not particularly cooperative. I suspect that the path carried the vibration of my foot falls well ahead of me, and the bugs were up and away while I was still out of zoom range. Eventually I caught on, and stood and waited just out of reach until the bugs rose and settled closer to me. The waiting game.
We have here, if you take the word of a novice at bugs in general and certainly a tourist among British bugs (not a good idea), a Gatekeeper, a Common Blue Damselfly, a Common Darter, and a Speckled Wood. Each image is linked to a larger version on Wide Eyed In Wonder.
Nikon Coolpix P500 in Close Up mode, with the default zoom setting overridden. 1) 403mm equivalent field of view, f5.6 @ 1/640th @ ISO 160. 2) 810mm, f5.7 @ 1/640th @ ISO 160. 3) the same. 4) 538mm, f5.6 @ 1/320th @ ISO 160.
Processed in Lightroom for Clarity and Sharpness. All but 3) cropped for scale.
8/25/2011: Peacock Butterfly, Rutland Water UK
Somehow the Peacock butterfly is all the more striking for being British. It is such a surprise, at least to me, to see this large, showy butterfly in the mild marshes and meadows of old England. Here it is feeding in the rushes and cattails along the edge of Rutland Water, on the unfortunately named Devil’s bit Scabious, right behind the Optics Marque at the Great British Birding Fair. What a treat!
It was not easy to photograph, as it hung back well into the rushes, where it was always partly obscured, making both framing and focus very tricky…and since the wind was blowing hard enough to keep everything in constant motion…but with the Nikon Coolpix P500’s long equivalent zoom, I was able to reach out to it for a few keepers.
Nikon Coolpix P500. 1) 810mm equivalent field of view, f5.7 @ 1/100th @ ISO 175. 2) 466mm equivalent, f5.7 @ 1/160th @ ISO 160. 3) 810mm equivalent, f5.7 @ 1/125th @ ISO 160. Program with Active D-Lighting.
Processed in Lightroom for Clarity and Sharpness. Cropped slightly for scale and composition.
8/24/2011: Ladybird, Ladybird, fly away home.
It was a bumper year for Ladybirds in England (or Ladybugs as we call them here in North America). This is evidently a good thing, as the native species are threated in England by the Harlequin Ladybug, an invasive imposter. I found Ladybirds all along the trails around Rutland Water.
Just for fun you might want to take a look at the wiki on Ladybird, Ladybird fly away home. The history of the nursery rhyme and speculations as to its meaning are interesting.
Nikon Coolpix P500 in Close UP mode. 1) 32mm equivalent field of view, f3.7 @ 1/100th @ ISO 160, 2) 263mm, f5.2 @ 1/200th @ ISO 160, and 3) 32mm, f3.7 @ 1/320th @ ISO 160.
Processed in Lightroom for Clarity and Sharpness.
8/20/2011: Bee in Blazing Star Heaven
Back to the Kennebunk Plains for more Blazing Star action. Of course the bloom of Blazing Star attracts bees from whatever a reasonable bee-flight around is. Their buzz is the music of the Plains this season.
Nikon Coolpix P500 at 176mm equivalent field of view, f5.4 @ 1/100th @ ISO 160. Close-Up mode.
Processed in Lightroom for Clarity and Sharpness. Cropped for composition.
8/19/2011: Autumn Meadowhawk (I think)
I am still very much learning my dragonflies. I think this is an Autumn Meadowhawk…though it is not yet autumn and this was taken at streamside…not in a meadow. Still…
This is the other common Odanata at Emmons Preserve in late summer.
Nikon Coolpix P500 at 620mm equivalent field of view (absolute max on Close-Up mode on the Coolpix), f5.7 @ 1/160 @ ISO 160.
Processed in Lightroom for Clarity and Sharpness. Cropped for scale.
8/18/2011: Ebony Jewelwings
As I mentioned in a previous post, on a recent explore at Emmons Preserve in Kennebunkport, the Ebony Jewelwings were super abundant and super active. We have two males and a female here, the males resting from the incessant aerial combat over the stream.
Nikon Coolpix P500 at 500mm equivalent field of view, f5.7 @ 1/320th @ ISO 160. Close-Up mode. This is a full-frame, uncropped shot.
Processed in Lightroom for Clarity and Sharpness.