This image perfectly sums up both the pleasures and frustrations of cell phone snaps. On the one hand, a camera immediately ready to hand, easy to focus, and of decent quality. On the other, particularly at the 512 pixel size, highlight clipping (i.e. overexposure) resulting from inexact exposure compensation, which for some reason seems to have caused some really awful .jpg artifacts during the downsizing process (note the jaggies along the lightest part of the flower petals, or edge of the left upper butterfly wing.)
Swallowtail on Echinacea. No, not my echinacea, some neighborhood echinacea. But I swear, mine looks similar, and there have been butterflies on it! galaxy s4, 31jul14.
But for spur of the moment, clipping and all, means I can share this little happiness. Because beautiful butterflies on striking native flowers is never a bad thing. Eastern swallowtail females come in two morphs, the familiar black and yellow with a bit of blue trim along the bottom edges of their wings, or the all-black version—think I've only spotted one of those, this season.
See, there are swallowtails on my echinacea:) This one is a male—no blue spots. sonyrx100, 09aug14
So about a week later, here's the proof of the above assertion. In fact I was lucky enough to see a pair dancing about each other after landing on a joe pye blossom, but as the flowerheads of this plant are 7 or 8’ above the ground, there was no chance of my getting a picture of that.
butterfly wingbeats in slo-mo; top rated gyoza; self-compassion 14nov2022
Goldenrod does not cause hayfever; but it is a food source for migrating monarchs. 26sep2022
Monarchs are getting scarce. 29aug2022
Miscellaneous messing about with the new camera 19jun2021
Virgina bluebells, narcissi & hummingbird moth 03may2021
Snow crystals and butterflies, both beautiful. 14feb2021
pen&ink study of luna moth on lupine made in a Japanese appointment diary 13oct2020
I wanted something fun and fantastic, so today I'm celebrating the monarchs that have been visiting my garden. Part of the reason I wanted to document them was a request for panel decorations for a community little free library, in which I wished to incorporate orange flowers and butterflies (becau...
Lots of monarchs visiting the front garden this year. 24jul2020
Monarchs as souls during Day of the Dead 14nov2019
Swallowtails in my garden, circa 2014 & 2017. 07sep2017
scenes from one of my favorite campgrounds. 28sep2015
Monarch caterpillar & pupa 15sep2014
swallowtail on echinacea:index for butterfly pix (esp swallowtail). Goodie—now I have a collection of free-to-use reference images (& so do you, these are CC-licensed for mix/share/reuse) 25aug2014
A slightly blurry photo of a monarch in flight 04oct2012
I shoot a butterfly at matthaei during labor day weekend. 10sep2010
It's been 3 years since I've posted any butterfly pix. So here's a swallowtail . Shot (and mostly written) 21jul, posted 23jul08. 23jul2008
Butterflies, Charlestown state park. This is a legacy post, so some images only go up to 512 pixels till I fix them, sorry. 07aug2005
Butterflies in my Garden 22may2004
Unless otherwise noted, text, image and objects depicted therein copyright 1996--present sylvus tarn.
