Butterflies

[happy_peasant]

As summer moves along, some of the butterflies are looking a bit battered. I have some hanging around that are in worse shape then any shown in this set though. This is just a random assortment of recent shots.

1. American Snout. Missing half his bifurcated snout though.


2. Monarch. Not too tattered. Just a bit scratched.


3. Comma. In good shape.

4. Cabbage Butterfly on Viola.

5. Black Swallowtail. You could just about see through her wings and I was amazed she was still whole.


6. Well, mostly whole anyway.

Next time I will have to post a male Black Swallowtail. They are smaller but quite pretty.

[Raghu]

Great pictures, Steve. I find the butterflies here are active in the late morning, say from 10 to noon. I don't get to see them in the afternoons. I am just curious to know if it is the samethere too.

[happy_peasant]

Raghu wrote:

Great pictures, Steve. I find the butterflies here are active in the late morning, say from 10 to noon. I don't get to see them in the afternoons. I am just curious to know if it is the samethere too.

Butterflies here are active all day. There may be some only active in the morning that I miss, but I think not. Monarchs and Red Admirals are in our yard all the time.

[WindRowe]

Nice butterfly shots, Steve. Did you use a close-up lens? How do you get them to sit still for long enough tophotograph?

[happy_peasant]

WindRowe wrote:

Nice butterfly shots, Steve. Did you use a close-up lens? How do you get them to sit still for long enough tophotograph?

I recently acquired Nikon 3T and 4T lenses, and have been playing around with them. These Monarchs I selected as I had used the 3T. The others were probably 3T also, although they may have been 4T on a partial zoom. The swallowtail came yesterday while I was playing with the two lenses stacked and I took them apart and reconfigured.

As far as the top shots, these are not young and flighty butterflies and they don't move as fast. And maybe the Monarchs at least get used to me. I have a lot of shots of them from a foot away or less, some right in their face. Trouble is, those black faces blend right in with the background usually and the shots don't have punch.

In addition to ones posted the last few days have included some right in the face Tiger Swallowtails and Red Admirals, but I think I posted those species last time. Somewhere I have some Spring Azure and some Banded Hairstreak shots to post if I find where I put them. They are about the size of a finger or thumbnail and would be pretty unimpressive without macro lenses.

[WindRowe]

Extraordinary to think that the Monarchs migrate all the way to Mexico to breed.
In another couple of months there will be thousands of them around here, setting off on their journey south.

[tcook]

Darn Steve you have more butterflies in this one post then I will get to shoot in a couple of months, I'm envious. All good captures but I really like the way you shot number five.

[Narmer]

Beautiful captures.

[happy_peasant]

Update note. The Black Swallowtail pictured here turns out to be a Black Tiger Swallowtail. I was reading the old butterfly book and there she was. That explains why she was so large. I posted a real Black Swallowtail in another post.

Thanks for commenting Raghu, Robin, Ted and Narmer.