Cabbage White Butterfly (Pieris rapae)

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 […]

Viceroy Butterfly hangs like a leaf

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 […]

tattered butterfly clings to fingertips

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

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 on teasel

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

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 […]