Sunset on the Monarch

This may be the last one for this year but hopefully not forever.

The Monarch is definitely in trouble. With all the problems because of their low population numbers still trying to rebound and habitat loss all along their range, these beautiful animals have a hard road ahead and we may be their only hope.

Plant Milkweed, stop over mowing and discontinuing the use of dangerous herbicides will help bring back their numbers. All of these actions are attainable and will make a difference in their population as well as making a better life for all wildlife.

Thanks for stopping by and taking a look.

Viceroy

Another great butterfly from the Madison Indiana area photographed at Big Oaks NWR in Jefferson County. This is a really cool little butterfly that mimics the larger Monarch butterfly to protect itself from birds and other predators.

The Monarchs have a really bad taste to predators, so I have been told, so the Viceroy has mimicked the look of the Monarch to hopefully protect themselves from birds and other predators that may want to have a taste of them.

Whether that is true or not I am not really sure, recently I have read that Viceroys have always had a bad taste.I would sure love to know who is tasting all these butterflies and is it really a good idea to be doing that !! Please excuse my attempt at being humorous.

Whatever the case they are one of the most beautiful butterflies that grace our area and are always a wonderful site to behold. Thanks for stopping by and taking a look !!

Black Swallowtail

Here is another great butterfly from Big Oaks NWR in Madison Indiana. This is the Black Swallowtail not to be confused with the Pipevine Swallowtail or the Spicebush Swallowtail or the Dark Morph Tiger Swallowtail, this is why butterfly identification can be confusing lol !!

It’s always a good idea to carry a butterfly book with you when searching them out and even then it’s still not easy telling them apart especially skippers !! But it is a very rewarding family or solo activity.

And now is the time to be out looking for these beautiful little flying gems, you can find them as close as your own backyard or in the biggest nature preserve just look for flowers and open sunlit areas and then you can drive yourself crazy trying to id all the different species lol !!

More Butterflies

Just continuing on with my backyard theme, here are few more Butterflies I have been able to photograph in my butterfly garden this year. Still no Monarchs but the ones I have been shooting have been really beautiful and a blast to work with.

These are three different species, each one is beautiful in its own right and each can be really tough to photograph. It seems the smaller the species the faster and more complicated it becomes lol !!

And so far it’s been a great year but I am still not finding any of my favorite Butterflies and that’s The Monarch, reports are that the population is down about 60% and I think I believe hat number, they have all but been invisible to me this year.  Hopefully I will still be able to photograph a few before the season ends here in Madison Indiana and they continue on their migration south into Mexico.

Hope you enjoy my images and thanks for stopping by and taking a look at my blog !!

 

 

                                                                                                                                                                          Cabbage Sulphur

 

 

 

                                                                                                                                                                        

Pearl Crescent

Eastern Tailed Blue

Butterflies from the BackYard

Ok… so now I am moving on from the flowers in my back yard to the reason I planted all these blooming plants, and that’s so I could hopefully do a better job in photographing butterflies this year.

Never had much luck with butterfly photography but with the cool wet summer here in Madison Indiana, which led to a profusion of blooming plants, I was able to really get out and try my hand with this very challenging aspect of macro photography.

Thankfully I have come across two really great places to photograph these little flying flowers. One is this great field not far from my home that has been planted with an incredible bounty of wildflowers by the State Highway Department and the other is even closer my backyard !! I will post pics of the wildflower field in later posts and thought I would just post pics of the butterflies in my yard for now.

The thing which has really brought the butterflies into my yard this year has been the great bloom my Butterfly Bushes have undergone.  I have never seen them bloom like this before and they have attracted everything to them Hummingbirds,Bees,Moths and many other nectar loving insects have used these bushes as a food trough  along with other insects looking for that free dinner that gets too close to its webs or claws!!

Here are a few shots of the butterfly that I have photographed the most lately and that’s the Tiger Swallowtail, it’s seems like these gentle giants have had a very good season in terms of survival and numbers and they have become my number subject so far.

I hope you enjoy the images and if you happen to be near a butterfly bush don’t be surprised if you don’t come across a few of these wonderful creatures. Thanks for stopping by and taking a look !!