Finally!

Posted by Katya

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 Yes! For at least two weeks, I have been trying to capture a Swallowtail butterfly that would come for a brief visit. I am sure that it saw me coming with my camera and smiled, teasingly, as it swooped off into the woods…..far from me and my camera! 

This morning, I saw this Swallowtail sitting on a milkweed flower. I grabbed the camera once again, convinced that as soon as I appeared outside, the little insect would be in flight, circling my head! But, I returned outside, and the little bugger was still there!

As I moved in close to photograph this little fellow, it seemed totally unnerved by my presence. In fact, it just kept moving about on the milkweed flowers as though I was invisible! I used my Olympus C-5050 to photograph this specimen, as it can move in closely and get very “upfront and personal”.

If you enlarge the first photo, you can see that this Swallowtail has been around! Its wings look a bit frazzled and frayed!

 I decided that since this little Tiger Swallowtail was being such a willing subject, I would press the camera into the macro mode that I so treasure…….

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I was so pleased to get this shot.

And as I got up so closely, look who was sitting down deeply inside one of the bracts!  

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Lookie What is in the Nest!

Posted by Katya

Last week, Michelle and I decided to see if the eggs had hatched in the nest the Juncos built in a small tree in front of the house. Sure enough, there were four little babies all huddled in the nest. It was almost impossible to photograph them, as they were covered in fuzz that made the eyepiece “fuzzy”!

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This afternoon, I ventured out to the tree again….curious as to what I might find.  Alas, the little fuzzballs were now sporting gray feathers with only a little fuzz here and there!  Their eyes are wide open, and they watched me with great interest.

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A couple of nights ago, I was outside during the late evening. The sun had retired in the west, and the lights on the outside of the garage were on. This was the “Night of the Moth”! I never saw so many moths….and, they were swarming like crazy around the lights. As I was observing this, one of the Junco parents began dive-bombing the moths. The bird’s mission was rather successful, as it flew off with the victim moth clutched in its beak.  I wondered if perhaps the mother Junco was taking this tasty delight to her quartet snugly awaiting in the nest!