Wednesday, July 30, 2008

Butterflies

.
For your enjoyment - color and pattern.
Some beautiful, some colorful.
Some plain, some rare.
(Click photo to enjoy)


Blue-eyed Sailor


Blue Metalmark


Blue Metalmark (underside)


Cloudless Sulphur


Crimson Patch


Dogface


Dorantes Longtail


Guava Skipper


Laceys Scrub-hairstreak


Large Orange


Little Wood Satyr
Violas form

Long-tailed Skipper


Lyside Sulphur


Mexican Fritillary


Orange Sulphur


Painted Lady (underside)


Painted Lady


Phaeon Crescent


Phaeon Crescent (underside)


Red-banded Hairstreak


Red-bordered Pixie


Silver-spotted Skipper


Sleepy Orange
looking like a leaf

Southwestern Texan Crescent


White-patched Skipper


White-striped Longtail


For those that made it to the bottom of this post and are interested in butterfly identification, I recommend Butterflies of North America by Brock and Kaufman. I keep looking at Half-Price Books for a couple of extra copies, but nobody wants to get rid of theirs. My old one is getting really worn.

Comment and let us know your favorite butterfly, color, or pattern.

Photos by Troy and Martha

The letter B today can be seen over at Denise's
.

45 comments:

mrsnesbitt said...

Strangely enough I was saying to Wilma yesterday I wish I had taken my camera on our walk. We came across a crowd of red admirals.

This Is My Blog - fishing guy said...

Troy: I see very few butterflies in NE Ohio. You have captured such a wonderful group of them. The butterflies I do see are only flittng by.

AphotoAday said...

Well, that's quite a collection you have there...
My favorite here is the Phaeton Crescent, and it's a great shot too...

I suppose I've previously mentioned that I grew up in Pacific Grove, California, where a lot of the Monarchs spend their winters... Pacific Grove calls itself "Butterfly Town, USA", and has a parade each fall...   When I was a kid I marched in that parade um-teen times...

Some day I've got to get a macro lens... Looks like there is a whole "other world" I'm missing out on...

Daryl said...

WOW WOW WOW ... that is some amazing collection of butterflies .. I am sending our daughter to look at these .. she is fascinated by what she calls flutterbys!

:-Daryl

Rune Eide said...

I know nothing about butterflies (but are we getting closer to a real enthusiast here?) - but I know good photography when I see it. Magnificent!

magiceye said...

Loved all of them! They are all so Bright and Beautiful!

Cicero Sings said...

What a variety! I definitely will have to look for that book though we pretty much have our standard few around here ... none too out of the ordinary.

kjpweb said...

Well now you're showing off! :)
What a great collection - some of them on my "to shoot" list!
Gorgeous. I feel puny with just one there...
Cheers, Klaus

dguzman said...

Wow wow wow, Troy and Martha. Incredible photos, and I love that you ID'd all of them. I only know a few butterflies, but I remember the Mexican fritillary well from my childhood in South Texas. They were EVERYWHERE--when I think of the word "butterfly," that's the one I see in my mind.

Thanks for this great post! I hope you don't mind if I link to it.

Kim said...

I wish I could pick just one that I like, but they are all beautiful.

Petrus said...

Love the butterflies - especially the Blue-eyed Sailor.

Anonymous said...

A veritable compendium - on-line identification. Remarkable.

EG CameraGirl said...

Butterflies are one of my current passions! These are great!!

Bear Naked said...

I can not even choose a favourite.
Wonderful photos.
BRAVO

Bear((( )))

Dina said...

Oh, so many! Just incredible the variety in your butterfly world and how you "captured" them all.
My favorite? I'd have to say their Creator.

Pietro Brosio said...

This is an amazing sequence of pictures. It's so difficult to photograph butterflies: these images are really splendid, I enjoy them very much.

Larry D said...

Wow, great photos! Thanks for the tip on the id book.

Granny Smith said...

What a fantastic set of photos! I thought I might choose butterflies for my "B" post. Now I'm glad I didn't. as you have done so much better a job than I could ever have done. Besides, I have mislaid my butterfly guide and would not have been able to put a name to some of mine.

I enjoyed not only this but other posts on your wonderful site.

Jane Hards Photography said...

Superb collection. So many wasn't familiar with, so educated aswell.

Brian said...

Hi, done as you suggested I can see that I have alot to learn to take photos as good as your butterflies, really glad I called by.

Brian

Gayle said...

That's quite a collection. I've hardly seen a butterfly this summer! Thanks for visiting me.

Kim from Hiraeth said...

Beautiful!

Miss_Yves said...

Amazing collection of butterflies!
miss yves
(thaks for your visit)

Kjersti said...

Wow, they are all so Beautiful! I don't think I have seen any of them before, we don't have so many species in North Norway, it is to cold.

Suburbia said...

What a fantastic collection! And perfect for B :)
Thanks for visiting mine.

Kathie Brown said...

I looked at them all, Troy. Ya gotta love a blue-eyed sailor. What a pretty butterfly with a perfectly romatic name! I like the wood satyr also. What a nice post!

Leslie: said...

Oh my goodness! Such a wonderful collection of photos - I'm wondering where you got the photos. Okay, I have a few favourites here:

Blue Metalmark
Crimson Patch
Mexican Fritillary
Phaeon Crescent

I'm very impressed with these photos as I had such a hard time getting shots of them yesterday. Well done!

Sara at Come Away With Me said...

So many butterflies!

I have seen the Monarchs in Pacific Grove, California....and a few other butterflies here and there but never anything as extensive as your collection of photos.

becky aka theRAV said...

WOW!!! Beautiful butterflies. We have had a surplus around the flowers at work lately. I did not think to take a photo of them. Thanks for you comments on my B word today.

Michele said...

Awesome butterfly series. I am not a butterfly photographer at all. I managed to catch one only because it was slightly sluggish and it was almost begging me to take its photo! =)
Thanks for identifying my little critter. I haven't seen a whole lot of them around here, perhaps it's the hot weather, I'm not sure but I'll with seeing yours, I'll keep my eyes open!
Mountain Retreat Photos

Shelley said...

It was like seeing a fireworks display - so many wonderful butterflies!

storyteller said...

What wonderful butterfly photos! Thanks for identifying each one for us ;--)
Hugs and blessings,

Tomate Farcie said...

Wow! What a series!!! I can only imagine how much time it took to put it together. Well done!

PS. I hate word moderation, too, but the alternative is SPAM. I like the little note you put under "leave your comment" to explain why you are using moderation. Excellent idea! TF
(came from Don's blog, aphotoaday)

Anonymous said...

Oh these photos are just gorgeous, and I enjoyed looking at every one of them. I think my favorite is the metalmark blue, because of that beautiful blue shade and the pattern and shape of the wings -- I've never seen anything like it.

Thanks for that book recommendation also, it looks like a great reference guide and I need one. I can never remember the names of the butterflies I see here.

Very interesting post, and nice collection of photos!

Lew said...

Butterflys are amazing and beautiful creatures! You have some exquisite photos. It must take a lot of patience and a steady hand to get these high quality photos. I have only seen a few butterflies in our part of Maryland so far this year.

Doug Taron said...

Wow, those are amazing shots. Did you take all of them in Texas? Some of them are really rare strays to the state.

imac said...

Great collection there, they are all so beautiful.

Duncan said...

What a collection, puts our local population to shame!

dixymiss said...

Goodness gracious! I can't wait to show these impressive photos to my piXies. What an amazing collection! Great work.

ThanX for stopping by for WW.

Genie said...

Those are ALL so remarkable. It's amazing to me how nature has adapted some of these butterflies to blend in so completely with their environment while others stick out so obviously. My favorite shot is of the Phaeon Crescent on the little yellow blossom. The lighting in that shot is magical! You'd think it was taken with studio lighting. The butterfly almost glows. I love all of these, but the light in that one is especially striking. What a fantastic collection of captures!

Lolosblog said...

Great photos! My favs here are the Cloudless Sulphur and Mexican Fritillary because I have seen them so many times but didn't know the names. But my most fav is the monarch, we are on their migration path in the fall. The trees in early Oct are full of them, they look like leaves in the late evening.

Anonymous said...

Incredible photos! I've only seen a few of your featured butterflies, mainly the ones that frequent the northeast. Those Texan and Mexican species are exquisite.

DigitalShutterMania said...

Wondful posting. I also learn about the name of each butterfly from your excellent blog.

Bob Johnson said...

Wow, you have these many butterflies in your area? My fav is the Lyside Sulphur, looks cool, like a leave.

Louise said...

Impressive collection. Butterflies are my nemesis. I love them, but have the hardest time getting pictures of them. These are all fabulous pictures.