Wizard asked me to make a test page for some updates he's doing—we finally bit the bullet and switched to (ugh! horrors! yikes!) comcast—so today's lightweight post features butterflies. I like butterflies, and owing to its getting close to fall (oooh, temps at night in the 40s and 50s, I love that) these beautiful insects are starting their annual migration. Garden didn't get the hummingbirds I noticed last year (failing to water the bee balm and letting the perennial sunflowers take over probably didn't help) but the milk weed actually bloomed for the first time, so I got lots more of the big showy butterflies—monarchs & swallowtails—than in the past.

However, this one was shot nearby, at Matthaei, were we wandered around to celebrate the Labor Day weekend, which has a particular significance for us. Which is just as well. Granted my garden is very weedy, but not infested, so I'd hope, with the amount of spotted knapweed as is implied in this image.

Other than the foul invader, I consider this is a decent, if entirely mundane, shot of a monarch:

Monarch butterfly on knapweed. iso200 1/320th sec, +0.7ev, f3.5 Olympus e620, 50mm zuiko macro. Shot around noon, bright sun, 5sep2010

I like my camera, but as the butterflies are in their migratory phase, they're kinda antsy & fast-moving. But the scales are showing on the lower wing, at least somewhat, and that's the first time i've ever managed that:)

However, at least comparing it with this older shot does make some of the variation in patterns obvious—note the quite different shape of white spots on the upper curve of both wings.

Unless otherwise noted, text, image and objects depicted therein copyright 1996--present sylvus tarn.