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Flickr Lounge: patterns

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Day 258/365; Week 37 Theme: Patterns (Sep 12-Sep 18)

Flickr Lounge: photographer's choice

Even the antennae of this tiny butterfly have minuscule dewdrops on them, though it was impossible to get everything in focus in one handheld shot. Eastern tailed-blue, about 3/4 inch long.

A big part of the reason I enjoy the natural world is that it shows the handiwork of our Creator. As I was walking through a dew-drenched field with fog at the edges, I asked God for a resting dragonfly or butterfly. He gave me both of them: a resting common green darner and a dew-drenched tiny eastern tailed-blue. And then He also gave me a grasshopper, some spiders, a milkweed bug, and several ambush bugs, all wet with dew.

In the next few days I'll add shots of wet spiderwebs (including some enclosing teasel completely) and flowers, as well as shots taken in the same park when I went back later in the day to get creatures out in warmer weather. But for now I'm just uploading my top favorite "wet" shots from a gorgeous morning.

Tags:   Eastern tailed-blue butterfly dew dew on butterfly WPD22Animals 365: the 2022 edition 365:2022 Day 258/365 15-Sep-22

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Flickr Lounge: blue

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The one butterfly I most wanted to see in Tennessee was the gulf fritillary, simply because (1) we don't have them in Indiana and (2) my only photo of one from the days I lived in Tennessee I still had a film camera, no experience with insect photography, and got a mediocre shot with the top of its wing cut off.

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This little guy kept flying around and occasionally settling for a few seconds, so I stood still and waited for him to settle close enough to me to get the shot. Traffic was buzzing by on the road that's just about a yard behind him, so I figured he might be good at tuning out distractions and allow me to get my camera quite close, and that proved to be the case. I kept myself as still as possible but moved the camera close enough to get the shot.

Several species of butterflies have males that seek wet spots to soak up the salts.

Tags:   orange sulphur sulphur butterfly

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