Black Swallowtail Butterfly Being the bad guy that I am, I went birding without the Doodles to Ottawa (where else?) to try to see the migrating shorebirds that are starting to arrive from the Great White North (that would be Canada). If I was a good guy, I would have been helping the Doodles out with caring for her mom, aka Mother Doodles, while she's recuperating in the hospital. It seems Doodles and her sister did fine without me, probably better actually...
I'd like to thank everyone for their kind thoughts.
Now you're probably wondering why I'm talking about shorebirds, but posting butterflies. If you've been out to any wetland areas looking for peeps, you'll understand. As I've stated in the past, and begged also, I REALLY NEED a Canon 800mm lens to get shots of those far away little critters. I'll thank you in advance, my dearest friends from Canon (there's TWO plugs for you!) Yep, them lil' shorebirdies aren't like my favorite warbly things, nooo, they like to sit in the baking sun, in the mud, waaaaayyyyyy far away from Loopy and his measly (but wonderful!) 300mm 2.8 Canon lens (plug #3).
So, I have a good number of photos of little, teeny, tiny fuzzy specks that I need to identify and crop this week. I will pick the best (?) to post of the recognizable images.
In the meantime, butterflies have wings too, and they're free.
Here's a Common Buckeye taken down near Shreve, Ohio with my telephoto lens. I have a macro lens, but never seem to have it handy when a butterfly comes into view. I need to work on that!
Common Wood Nymph. If it's so common, how come this is the only one I've seen? Hmmm?This time I had my 100mm Canon macro lens(plug #4) at the ready! This Eastern Tiger Swallowtail was getting minerals near a river bank. He needs to try "One-A-Day Plus Minerals" for Butterflies...
This European Skipper is a regular visitor to the wildflower gardens in our front yard. He's so soft and fuzzy! This Great Spangled Fritillary is trying to pretend it's a flower. "Don't notice!"
Using a telephoto lens for insects presents a challenge. You have to see how far back you can get to get them in the frame before they fly away!
A Red Admiral getting his fix of minerals. I tried licking the rocks too. I wouldn't recommend it. ick.This is a Red-spotted Purple, truly one of my favorites!
If you see more butterflies...that means I'm either going crazy with the peeps...or just going crazy!