Butterflies are free; let the migration begin
As the summer season draws to a close, insects are at their peak. And no insects are more noticeable than the number of butterflies on the wing these days. The beautiful critters waft from flower to flower, feeding and resting, bringing the garden and yard alive with “flowers” of another sort.
As the females lay more eggs, and more caterpillars hatch and pupate to become adults, butterflies increase exponentially. By the end of summer we have a butterfly explosion!
As you may know, I've been on a bit of a butterfly kick myself the last few weeks,
a number of butterfly pictures have graced the pages of this blog.
Recently my yard has had a mini-burst of painted ladies. These sweet orange, brown and white butterflies fly languidly around the flowers, taking their own sweet time as they sip nectar from the blooms.
Unlike many butterflies they are a photographer’s dream because they pose so prettily. Painted ladies, unlike their party girl name, are calm and not so flighty as many other butterflies.
Funny, my experience with the Painted Ladies is that they move around a lot, and it's pretty hard to catch them with the tops of their wings exposed. I succeeded, but only by putting in a lot of time, and wasting a lot of digits...
Take the black swallowtail. This fast-moving, fickle flier lights down for only seconds. Whether feeding or laying eggs, the females, especially, are here one minute and gone the next. Her movements are easy to understand when I see how many black swallowtail eggs and caterpillars are scattered all over my fennel plants. This butterfly is one hard worker.
I really didn't have a lot of trouble with the Black Swallowtail,
except for learning to identify them in the plethora of other Pipevine Swallowtail mimics. And all the swallowtails have been nearly ideal photographic subjects, hanging in there while I pushed the camera up within a foot or so. However, the Black did seem a little flightier.
As for movement, you almost can tell the difference between a monarch butterfly of summer and one of fall by the way they fly around the yard.
The summer monarchs waft about with no seeming goal in mind. But the monarchs of fall, the ones that will migrate all the way to Mexico, seem to rest and feed with a purpose. Photographing them at this stage is far easier.
The Virginia Beach Photography Club is planning a series of visits to the Eastern Shore of Virginia National Wildlife Refuge specifically to photograph migrating monarchs. These strong little travelers fly down the Eastern Shore from points north and stop at the tip of the shore to wait for favorable winds to cross the Chesapeake Bay.
I’ve heard stories from motorists who were crossing the bay-bridge tunnel and saw a line of monarchs flying determinedly along the way. Talk about purposeful!
The refuge, not far from the tunnel toll plaza on the Shore, is a great gathering spot for monarchs. If it is not windy and rainy, prime time for viewing the monarchs of fall is Sept. 15 to Oct. 15. Members of the photography club will be at the refuge visitor center on Saturdays and Sundays during that period to chat with both club members and nonmembers about where to see and photograph butterflies on the refuge. For information, email dmgrochmal@cox.net.
I won't be going to Virginia to take Monarch pictures, but we usually see a few extra Monarchs down by the beach, so I'm sure I'll waste a few more digits on them there.
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