No Kidding, Sherlock
A butterfly seeks meaning. Orange Julia (Dryas julia); taken in the butterfly room at Phipps Conservatory. Below is another look of the same species in this conservatory.
Tag Archives: Butterfly
Cabbage…Yellow?
More butterflies in the golden light of fall afternoon. Today we have a Cabbage White Butterfly (Pieris rapae) nectaring on a comfrey flower (Symphytum × uplandicum, I presume.) The yellow appears on the underwing. Below is a capture that shows the tops of the wings with their familiar white with prominent black spots. Females have a second dark […]
Yellow on Purple
An Orange Sulphur (Colias eurytheme) nectars on a New England Aster, in the shadows of the late-afternoon autumn sun. Taken with Nikkor 70-300 AF-S ED VR. Cropped.
High and Mighty Fritillary
The New England Asters are taking their turn in the fall bloom finale. The last butterflies of the season are taking advantage while they can. This great spangled fritillary (Speyeria cybele) is striking a superior pose, not quite able to hide his tattered hindwings from the camera. Taken with a Nikkor 70-300mm AF-S ED VR at […]
Viceroy the Leaf
At first glance, this may appear to be the last colorful autumn leaf clinging to a branch. Actually, it is a Viceroy Butterfly clinging to a willow limb that has been stripped of its foliage. This particular willow is very popular with caterpillars of several kinds. Every late summer it gets denuded; it seems like […]
Last Sip
I discovered this tiger swallowtail butterfly struggling in the tall grass. He was pretty tattered. I boosted him up to an ironweed bloom for a meal. He immediately began drinking nectar from the flowers, pictured below. Hopefully my random act of kindness will buy him a little more time to a very brief life. Pardon […]
Butterfly in Context
I worked with the Tokina 11-16mm today in the meadow on the butterflies. I was looking for a wide angle approach. These super wides have a deep depth of field; add that to the fact that they include everything in the picture, and it becomes difficult to isolate a single subject that does not fill […]
Pipevine Swallowtail
I chose this image because it caught the iridescent blue of the underside of the hindwing on the Pipevine Swallowtail. I see these butterflies often locally; pipe vines themselves, the host plant for this butterfly, I’m not positive I have ever noticed. They must be nearby somewhere. This image taken with a Nikkor 70-300mm AF-S […]
Black Swallowtail Chrysalis
This black swallowtail chrysalis is showing marvelous yellow and green coloration. I photographed the caterpillars last week. It is a very exposed location, however, with no camouflage advantage and human foot traffic passing the railing frequently. We’ll see if it can hang on for the duration, probably about two weeks or so. We are very […]
Black Swallowtail Caterpillar
Bonus post today, brought to you by the letter “E.” Yellow, green and black are the uniform of the black swallowtail butterfly. This specimen was feeding on fennel in an herb garden. We find them quite often in this garden on these plants. Sometimes we find them parasitized by tiny wasps, but so far they […]