Butterflies
Reclining Monarch
This is a butterfly common to our neighborhood and most of North America. This is the much-loved monarch butterfly. I found this one on a cool morning, perched among some purple asters growing wild in a field. Because of the early, cool conditions, this monarch was moving slow and the asters hadn’t opened yet.
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Common Blue Morpho
Beautiful and graceful, varied and enchanting, small but approachable, butterflies lead you to the sunny side of life. And everyone deserves a little sunshine. ~Jeffrey Glassberg
Spanning the world to bring you the beauty of the nature… Actually, I found this beauty at the Butterfly Palace in Branson, MO.
This is the Common Blue Morpho (Morpho Peleides) butterfly – common to Central and South America.
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All of the photos I post are available for purchase. If you’d like to buy one, click on the blue “Buy this Online” bar below for a variety of print and frame options or contact me for digital purchase and licensing options.
Fiesta Butterfly
The intricacy and beauty of nature continually affirms the concept of intelligent design to me. You’ll never convince me this kind of order and detail is the result of millions of years of happenstance. This stunning example of intelligent design was found at The Butterfly Palace and Rainforest Adventure in Branson, MO. They cultivate a variety of butterfly species there.
This particular butterfly is a Leopard Lacewing (cethosia cyane); a species of heliconiine butterfly found from India to southern China, and Indochina.
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All of the photos I post are available for purchase. If you’d like to buy one, click on the blue “Buy this Online” bar below for a variety of print and frame options or contact me for digital purchase and licensing options.
Orange Adorned Butterfly
This little beauty was content to pose for a photo or two. I don’t know what kind of butterfly it is. It was one of hundreds we walked among at the Butterfly Palace in Branson, MO. I was able to snap several other unique butterflies there and will share them in the days and weeks to come. Stay tuned.
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All of the photos I post are available for purchase. If you’d like to buy one, click on the blue “Buy this Online” bar below for a variety of print and frame options or contact me for digital purchase and licensing options.
Technicolor Throne
This skipper moth was overlooking the splendor of his kingdom from the comfort of his technicolor throne, a purple cone flower.
This is a photo taken on our recent vacation. This image came from a flowerbed just outside the gift shop of the Topeka Zoo. While the rest of our party went to look through the shop, I stayed outside to snap more photos.
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Damsel in Distress
When I walk through the woods with my camera, I walk slowly. I’m being careful to observe all that is around me – eyes attuned to the slightest movement or color or pattern or light that might make an interesting image. On such a walk, I noticed a small, white butterfly moving though the weeds along the path. I decided to try a take a photo of it when it finally found a place to land.
I watched as it fluttered a bit from spot to spot. At one point it was fluttering under a large leaf. With my camera ready, I waited for it to emerge. Despite it’s continued fluttering, it wouldn’t come out in the open. Tired of waiting, I stooped down to get a better look and discovered why it wasn’t flying out into the open.
A spider had snatched it. It wasn’t caught in a web. This spider, hiding on the underside of this leaf, grabbed it as it fluttered by.
This is a close-up view of some tiny critters. Both of them together would not be much bigger than my thumbnail.
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Simple Butterfly
Morning Dangler
I found this monarch butterfly clinging to the underside of a purple coneflower in a meadow very early morning. It was obvious, this is where it spent the night. It was still in sleep-mode when I photographed it. I was able to nudge it without it flying off. I eventually coaxed it to the top of the flower and posted a photo of that earlier ( see it here: Monarch of the Meadow)
For a little different feel, I added a bit of texture to this one.
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Garden Svengali
Monarch of the Meadow
This monarch butterfly, sitting on the head of a cone flower, was stretching its wings in the early morning sun. I like the way the petals from the flower look like trailing streamers.
I was delighted to capture this image because butterflies have been a real challenge for me. Of all my attempts – chasing the fidgety creatures around with my camera – I’ve only been able to catch a couple of images I’ve been happy with. I just happened to catch this one early in the morning, not fully awake. I even had to nudge it to get it to open its wings.
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