Another Day at Work
Apis Workers' Party
Predator
Some of Your Beeswax
Sedum Bumbler
Look of Defiance
Chicory Bee
Bumbling Bees
Garden Cafe
Buzz By Here - To Infinity and Beyond
Pick Your Poison
Blind Side Attack
On a Mission
Honey Bee on Sedum
Covering the Cosmos
Center of the Cosmos
Three's a Crowd
Popular Spot
On A Pedestal
Big Harry Fireworks Display
To Impress the Girl
Different Perspective
Sweet Ride
Perfect Little Piggies B&W
Flipping the Light Fantastic
Festival of Flights
To the Crowd's Delight
Amish Go Round
Wondersome One
The Stars In Her Eyes
Tuesday's Child
Sleeper Hold
Considering the Next Move
Sugar and Spice
Front Porch Portrait
Caged Competitor
Early Adoration
Child In the Ligtht
Stroll Through the Weeds
Attention Grabbing
Eye Contact
On the Line
Eyes of Wonder
Rounding the Curve
Troubadours of Basin Spring Park
Down by the Creek
Sun Day
Catching Some Light
EAA Fireworks
Hear Me Roar
Butterfly Palace
War Bonnet
The attention-grabbing, bold color and contrast on this small butterfly’s wings are clearly a work of God’s design and creativity.
Last month, during a trip to the Branson, Missouri area I spent a couple of hours at the Butterfly Palace. They have a variety of winged creatures flitting around their man-made tropical environment. When in the area, I try to make my way there because I’m always sure to get some worthwhile images.
The detail in this butterfly’s wings is amazing. You can get a better view by clicking on the photo.
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 (pops@popsdigital.com) for digital purchase and licensing options.
Strange Life Form
Butterflies are such beautiful creatures with the colors and patterns of their wings. However, up close, they have the face only an alien mother could love. This photo is a stark reminder – though whimsical in flight and beautiful from a distance, they are still flying insects.
I believe this is a Blue Morpho butterfly. If you could see it with its wings open, you would see a spectacular, iridescent blue color. The Blue Morpho is among the largest butterflies in the world with wing spans from five to eight inches. Blue morphos live in the tropical forests of Latin America from Mexico to Colombia.
On this photographic trip to the Butterfly Palace in Branson, Missouri I tried, unsuccessfully, to capture one of them with their wings open. You can view their beautiful blue in a photo I captured on a previous trip here: Common Blue Morpho
This is one you may want to view in larger size to see more of the detail. (Or not…if bugs aren’t your thing.) To do so, simply click on the photo.
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.
Designer Dots
The seven dots adorning this large butterfly caught my eye while studying the amazing winged creatures at the Butterfly Palace in Branson, MO.
I have no idea what kind of butterfly this is. It might be easier to identify if I had a photo of the upper side of the wings. Most identification guides seem to show the butterflies with wings open.
You can view a larger, full-screen version of this image by clicking on the photo.
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.
Orchids Up Close
The intricate pattern of color and unique shape makes the Orchid a delight to behold and study.
This is a cluster of blooms I found when photographing butterflies in the Butterfly Palace in Branson, MO. They had several orchids growing in the tropical environment created for the butterflies.
To view a larger version – best for studying the details – click on the photo.
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.
Feed the Flame
This distinctively marked butterfly was feeding on some tiny red flowers at the Butterfly Palace and Rainforest Adventure in Branson, MO.
On a recent trip to Branson, Missouri I spent several hours at the Butterfly Palace getting a ton of butterfly images. I was also able to snap a few of the local, native butterflies in the wild. Stay tuned, as I intend to post a variety of butterfly photos in the coming weeks.
In my mind, this butterfly’s orange markings look like a custom painted flame design. I couldn’t identify this type of butterfly. Even a chart of butterflies on the wall at the Butterfly Palace didn’t have an example of this one, though there were a bunch of these beauties flitting around.
If you have a sharp eye, you may have noticed another butterfly in this shot, It’s the blurry orange and white spot in the upper left-hand corner.
To get a closer, more detailed look, click on the photo.
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.
Sitting Pretty
Creation is teaming with unique, delicate beauties for the observant who are persistent to see beyond the obvious.
Within the Puelicher Butterfly Vivarium in the Milwaukee Public Museum there are hundreds of specimens. This one, a Small Postman butterfly, (heliconius melpomene), was among the tiniest. (To view the largest, visit my previous post: Owl Butterfly.)
Postman butterflies are tropical butterflies found in Central and South America. They are most common along sunlit forest edges with flowers.
As sweet as they may appear, they have little to fear from predators. As caterpillars, they feed on passion flower leaves, storing up toxic chemicals they retained throughout their lifespan that makes them foul-tasting to typical predators.
You can get a better look at this beauty by clicking on the photo and viewing a full-screen version.
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.
Paper Kite
This beautiful, high-contrast butterfly is known by the name, Paper Kite. It’s technical name is Idea Leuconoe. The name game doesn’t stop there, either. It’s also called a Wood Nymph butterfly, Large Tree Nymph butterfly or simply, Rice Paper butterfly.
The Paper Kite has a weak, fluttery flight interspersed with gliding due to the high ratio of their wing-size to body-size. You would think, with their bright color and bold pattern, they would easily fall victim to predators, but like monarch butterflies, they are poisonous or highly unpalatable and are not often attacked.
The Paper Kite’s natural territory is Southeast Asia. Apparently, it is a common resident in butterfly greenhouses and live butterfly expositions. I found this one at the Butterfly Palace and Rainforest Adventure in Branson, MO.
You can view a larger version of this image by simply clicking on it.
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.
Clipper Parthenos Sylvia Blue
This is a Clipper butterfly of the Parthenos Sylvia variety. The clippers, like this blue version, a nymphalid species.
The clipper is a fast flying butterfly whose habit of never fully raising its wings when flapping makes its flight look rather stiff and jerky. In between spurts of flapping it will gracefully glide.
These butterflies are typically found in South and South-East Asia. This beauty was photographed at The Butterfly Palace in Branson, MO.
You can see more of the detail in these wings when you view the larger version by clicking on the photo.
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.
Green-banded Swallowtail
This is the Green-banded Swallowtail butterfly. Some might also refer to this butterfly as a Green Banded Peacock or Emerald Swallowtail. It is common to South Asia, including India and Sri Lanka.
In this image, the bands on the wings seem to be more of a blue color. Apparently the color can vary slightly, depending on the angle of view. From the back, it can seem more blue – from the front it appears more green. As you can see, this butterfly is peppered with green scales either side of the main bands. The coloration is a structural color not a pigmented color. The structure of the scales on this butterfly give it the iridescent green color.
Their main diet is provided by plants in the citrus family. On a sad note, they have a short lifespan. The adult Green-banded Swallowtail butterflies rarely last longer than a week.
I photographed this creature on a recent visit to The Butterfly Palace and Rainforest Adventure in Branson, Missouri.
To view some of the details in this macro photo, click on the image and a larger version will open in a new browser tab.
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.
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.
You can view a larger version of this photo by simply clicking on it.
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.