Peck Butterfly House | a 7 Image Story

Peck Butterfly House | White Peacock ButterflyPeck Butterfly House | a 7 Image Story   The Peck Butterfly House contains hundreds of butterflies that fly, feed, and land in the enclosure.  It’s part of the 385 acre Peck Farm Park which offers a visitors an opportunity to slow down and enjoy nature including a 19-acre wetland, nature & bike trails, and an observation silo. The butterflies are imported on a regular basic to keep the house populated.  Although most butterflies are not native, occasionally a native species like the Monarch will be there.  The house allows the photographer to capture many different butterfly poses.

These images were captured with a Nikon 1 V3 using a 30-110mm zoom lens attached to a 16mm extension tube.  The V3 has a 2.7 crop factor which makes the lens a 81-297mm lens.  Then, the extension tube also magnifies the image by allowing the lens to focus closer to the butterfly.  The net effect allows close-up images to be captured without disturbing the butterflies.

Peck Butterfly House | WaterfallPieridae Butterfly  The Pieridae family of butterflies contains around 76 genera and 1,100 species.  Most species live in Africa and Asia with only 61 species in North America.  Whites and sulphurs are small to medium-sized butterflies with wingspans ranging from 0.8 to 4.0 inches. Their flight is mostly slow and fluttering and they like to feed at flowers.

Julia Butterfly   The Julia butterfly is a species of brush-footed butterfly family.  It’s native from Brazil to southern Texas and Florida.  With a wingspan ranging from 3.2 to 3.6 inches, it’s a fast flier.  It frequents clearings, paths, and edges of woodlands where it feeds on flower nectar. The Julia butterfly is popular in butterfly houses because it’s very active and long-lived.

White Peacock Butterfly  While Peacock butterflies are common in southern Texas and Florida.  They are found near ponds or streams in fields or parks as well as roadside ditches.  Their wing span measures 2 – 2 3/4 inches.

Spicebush Swallowtail Butterfly  These beautiful black bodied swallowtail butterflies can be found in most of the eastern and mid-western states.  They inhabit wooded areas, swamps, parks, and fields where they eat nectar from honeysuckle, jewel weed, thistles, milkweed, azalea etc.  With an wingspan of 3.5 to 4 inches, they are fun to watch in the butterfly house.

Gulf Fritillary Butterfly   The Gulf Fritillary is a medium-sized butterfly with extended forewings.  With a wingspan from 2.5 to 3.7 inches, it’s considered a “longwing” butterfly with long, narrow wings.  Gulf Fritillaries are found primarily in the southern states like Texas and Florida; even Hawaii.  It’s range extends from the southern states into parts of Mexico and Central America.  They are found in mostly sunny areas near open grasslands, parks, and woodlands as well as butterfly gardens.

Zebra Longwing Butterfly   The Zebra Longwing butterfly is common in Florida and part of Texas as well as Mexico and Central America.  It’s Florida’s official state butterfly.  They fly slowly and gracefully.  Longwing butterfly adults are relatively long lived.  Most other butterflies live only a few weeks, but longwings live for several months.  Also, most butterflies can only sip fluids with their specialized mouth parts, but longwing butterflies can get some pollen and nectar. Their saliva allows them to dissolve the pollen to get the nutrients.  Zebra longwings gather in roosts to spend the night and return to the same roost each night.  For insects, they are very intelligent. They have a social order when roosting whereby the oldest butterflies choose the best places.  Also, they remember where their food is located and return to the plants where they previously ate.

Monarch Butterfly   The monarch butterfly, one of the world’s most recognizable butterflies, is known for its seasonal migration.  Monarchs migrate from the United States and Canada south to California and Mexico for the winter.  Monarch butterflies are native to North America with additional populations in Hawaii, Portugal, Spain, Australia, and New Zealand.  It has a lifespan of six to eight months.  Its wingspan measures 3.7 to 4.1 inches.  Monarchs have declined by around 90% in the last three decades due to the disappearance of milkweed plants.

Each image will be posted individually this week with a bit more narrative under category Peck Butterfly House.

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Eastern Tiger Swallowtail Butterfly | a 7 Image Story

Eastern Tiger Swallowtail Butterfly | Profile PortraitEastern Tiger Swallowtail Butterfly | a 7 Image Story   This female Eastern Tiger Swallowtail Butterfly was feeding on several flowers along my walkabout.  It seemed to linger around the flowers as I clicked away.  It was a chance for me to capture images of this species in its habitat from numerous angles and close ups.

The Eastern Tiger Swallowtail feeds on the nectar of many different species of flowers.  They keep their balance when feeding nectar by beating their wings.  They don’t seem to mind what angle they use to feed.  Whether it’s upside down, sideways, right side up, or floating in flight.  Next to the Monarch, it’s one of the most recognizable butterflies with a wingspan from 3 to 5 inches.  When not feeding, it tends to be a high flier; sometimes above tree tops.  It likes woodlands, sunny fields, wet meadows, rivers, and creeks as well as gardens.  They are attracted to gardens with flowers where they feed on the nectar of many different species.  They are a small, solitary high flier in our big world.  Their range includes eastern North America from Ontario Canada south to Gulf coast and west to Colorado plains and central Texas.

Each image will be posted individually this week with a bit more narrative under category Eastern Tiger Swallowtail Butterfly.

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Macro Flowers Plus | a 7 Image Story

Macro Flowers Plus | Fly on a DaisyMacro Flowers Plus | a 7 Image Story   Macro photography is all about getting closer to the subject and making that subject bigger.  It allows for very close focusing and magnification.  Macro photography is still relatively new to me.  My Nikon gear for these images consists of a Nikon 1 V3 attached to a MOVO 21mm extension tube and a Nikon AF 135mm f2D, AF-S 50mm f1.4G, or 1 VR 10-30mm f/3.4-5.6 PD-Zoom lens.  The 135mm lens is a manual focus lens on the V3; not a big deal for macro images.  Hopefully, a macro lens will be in my future.  These images came from a short walkabout.

Fly on a Daisy   Capturing this image with a fly in focus was more luck than skill.  Utilizing f/8 helped, of course!  Still hand holding the lens really close to the flower, waiting for the fly to stop for a second or two, continual auto-focusing, and clicking requires patience and a bit of skill.

Pollen Pollen Everywhere   In macro photography, f/8 does not yield the depth of field you might imagine.  Still, it’s a bees paradise viewed from a bee’s perspective.

Hairy Green  It’s hard to notice all the hairs on this plant unless you get really close.  Even at f/13 the depth of field is fairly small with the extension tube attached.  This plant is not very impressive at a normal distance, but up close its interesting.

Hibiscus Parts  The Hibiscus is a big flower.  Even close up, it looks like a big flower.  Notice how f/8 gives a decent depth of field with a 21mm extension tube mounted on a 135mm lens.  And, the lens is manually focused on the V3.  The high ISO kept the shutter speed faster for a handheld shot.

Droplets on a Leaf   A few drops of water an make a big difference in a macro image.  Notice the magnification effect of the water drops.

Bright Day Lilies  Daylilies love to be in the sun and can grow from one to four feet high.  They establish quickly, grow vigorously, and easily survive winters.  Daylilies have been cultivated for over 2,500 years and include over 80,000 different flowers. 

Bee on a Flower   Bees are among the most necessary species on the planet.  Hand holding the lens very close to the flower while continually clicking and auto-focusing and waiting for the bee to stop for a sub second requires patience and a bit of skill.

Each image will be posted individually this week with a bit more narrative under category Macro Flowers Plus.

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The Moment After the Click | a 7 Image Story

The Moment After the Click | White-tailed DeerThe Moment After the Click | a 7 Image Story  When capturing wildlife images even with a pleasant background in nice light, it’s sometimes hard to know which images will be the best.  The camera may be set for perfect exposure, but perfect focus may be much harder.  Wildlife moves.  What’s in focus one moment might not be in focus the next moment.  Even in focus, their eyes might blink or wings might flutter unexpectedly.  Several images are routinely required to get a few keepers.  Clicks!   Finally, you know you have an image or two that will tell the story.  And, hopefully, you have not disturbed the wildlife.  Now what?  It’s time to retreat and review those images.  Finally, you’ve calmed down.  The calm after the quest; the moment after the click.  Each of these images has its own back story on my journey.

White-tailed Deer   The White-tailed Deer was walking through the woods of northern Michigan on an early spring day in late afternoon.  As it walked, it would stop to look around.  It spotted me even though I was using my vehicle as a bind.  Then, it stood for a very long time looking at me while continually scouting the area.  With all the light brown background, it was hard to know if any of my clicks were good.  The trees and branches would move due to the wind.  Either a branch was in the way or the deer blinked or suddenly moved.  Finally, it stopped, looked, and Clicks!  The deer then turned a walked away.  After looking at the images in post processing, I realized only the last couple of clicks were keepers.

Common Loon   At Ox Bow Bend near the Grand Tetons, clear early morning light, calm winds, and the flat waters of the Snake River helped make this image special.  The long 400mm lens also helped.  Even though, I had to wait quite a while for this Loon to swim closer to me as I waited at river’s edge.  The river was quiet as the Loon made its way up river towards me.  Although I was partially hidden behind a mound of dirt, it probably knew I was there.  It did not seem to mind and almost seemed to give me a few poses. Clicks!  After the clicks, I just sat there and watched as the Loon swam peaceful by.

American Bison   Late April in Yellowstone NP is time for babies; American Bison babies.  In this field, several Bison gave birth this afternoon.  This baby Bison, called a Red Dog, is only a few minutes old while taking its first tentative steps.  Mom attend to her baby and cleans it until it walks reasonably well.  Clicks!   Even though this was a long telephoto shoot on a windy day, this image turned out okay in post.

Raccoon   This Raccoon image, captured at Everglades NP, is clearly the nicest raccoon image I have ever captured.  Wild Everglade raccoons greeted our air boat as we docked on a remote island.  These guys roamed around an old native American house site which is still regularly visited.  They kept their distance but clearly were not afraid of us.  On several occasions, they stopped which gave us an opportunity to captured several images.  Clicks!  The easy to carry Nikon 1 V1 and the 70-300mm lens allowed me to capture a nice image while not disturbing the raccoons.  The raccoons watched as we boarded the air boat to depart.

Young Bighorn Sheep   This young Bighorn Sheep came up behind me on a ridge while I was trying to capture a few images of a large ram just over the next hill in the Badlands NP.  Young Bighorn Sheep are called lambs.  This guy seemed too big to be called a lamb.  Like most kids, he was curious.  Today, he seemed to be curious about me.  He kept edging his way closer and closer to me.  As he came closer, I was able to capture a few nice images.  Clicks!  He blocked my way back off the cliff for about a half hour.  He just stood there.  The cliff was a couple hundred feet down on all sides so I had to wait and enjoy the view of sunrise over the Badlands.  Finally, he retreated.

Cooper’s Hawk   Sometimes you go to the image, sometimes the image comes to you, and sometimes the image just happens.  Such was the case with this immature Cooper’s Hawk image.   Also, with the leaves off the trees, it’s a bit easier to see wildlife.  My walkabout along one of my favorite paths had been uneventful, which is often the case during the late fall months before winter really comes to northern Illinois.  The trail winds around a small stream with many small hills up the banks.  As I came up a hill, just within sight over the top of the hill, sat the immature Cooper’s Hawk.  I quickly knelt down on one knee, out of the hawk’s sight.  The trail parallels the stream and the tree where the hawk was perched.  So, I made ready the camera and proceeded slowly along the trail.  When the hawk noticed me, I stopped and backed away.  Clicks!.  Luckily, the light was nice.  The hawk didn’t move.  It had to be accustomed  to people walking the trail.  I’m glad to not have disturbed it.  Although the Cooper’s Hawk is smaller than the Red-tailed Hawk, their sleek build and smooth plumage give them a more refined look.

American Alligator   Meet the American Alligator up close and personal; eyeball to eyeball at Everglades NP.  American Alligators are black; all black.  Yes, I was close, but not too close, lying on my belly to capture this image.  The 70-300mm set at 70mm is still 189mm after the Nikon 1 V1 crop factor.  Yes, that’s still close.  Clicks!  After several clicks, I noticed several gators beginning to move toward me.  Although gators generally move rather slowly, they can really move out fast.  They were gathering on three sides around me.  Time to go look at my images later in post.

Each image will be posted individually this week with a bit more narrative under category The Moment After the Click.

Click any image below for a slide show.

The Moment Before the Click | a 7 Image Story

The Moment Before the Click | Yellowstone ElkThe Moment Before the Click | a 7 Image Story   When photographing landscapes in just the right place at just the right time with just the right light, there comes a moment when you know the scene in front of your lens becomes just the right image.  It’s that moment when all is right with the world.  The camera setting are set correctly.  You’ve moved around enough to get the right angle and the composition is set.  The camera is focused on the scene with perfect exposure.  You’re calm.  The calm only a photographer can feel; the moment before the click.  Click!  Each of these images has its own back story on my journey to that moment.

Yellowstone Elk   After a long day enjoying Yellowstone NP in late September, we were driving toward the west end of the park to call it a day.  As happens often in Yellowstone, the next bend in the road provided another beautiful scene.  The Elk were bugling in this small herd across the field.  After a short walk through the trees, the scene opened up.  At first, it was not clear to me what my subject would be.  Normally, it would be the Elk.  This time the new tree growth through the burned forest seemed more overpowering to me.  So, I decided to make it a landscape with wildlife included.  After wondering a bit to get the right angle and focusing with a long lens to condense the background, the scene in front of my lens came into focus.  The late afternoon light was perfect.  The scene was classic wild Yellowstone. The perfect end to a great day.  Click!  

Gallatin River Montana   While crossing the small bridge into the Gallatin River Ranch, it’s not uncommon to see someone fly fishing.  In fact, the Gallatin River is a top fly fishing destination for Brown Trout, Rainbow Trout and an occasional Cutthroat Trout.  With the setting sun behind me, this scene began to unfold.  At first, it seemed like the fisherman might be the subject, but as the light changed, it revealed nice landscape image.  So, I decided to make it a landscape with a human included.  After walking up and down the bridge a bit to get the composition with beautiful late afternoon light, this scene came into focus.  The scene is  classic Montana with Gallatin fishing.  The only sound breaking the calm came from water ripples in the river.  A nice way to end the day!  Click! 

The Shore Line @ Oxbow Bend   OxBow Bend is located along the Snake River near Great Tetons NP.  It’s one of the most photographed places in the country.  In this image, Mt. Moran stands majestic in the background.  To capture this image, I arrived at the the Ox Bow Bend turnoff a little before o’dark thirty.  A light snow cover greeted me at the turnoff.  Just after first light, I climbed down the slightly frozen river bank to river’s edge.  Upon setting up my tripod behind several rocks, I waited for any wildlife that might amble by my position.  Several coyote packs could be heard in the distance.  Also, black bear, grizzly bear, moose, elk, and wolves call this area home.

Unfortunately, the wildlife did not appear except for a couple of river otters.  However, the crisp, cold morning air, the light spring snow cover, and the calm, no wind quiet of this remote place made me appreciate the scene in front of my lens.  As Mt. Moran became reflected in the Snake River and the morning shadows began to change, this composition appeared.  Click!

Yellowstone Early Snow   Yellowstone’s first snow of the year in mid November made for a great day to capture images along the Yellowstone River. A snowstorm had fallen the night before, covering everything in sparkling fresh snow.  Actually, we only had a few minutes to capture this image between snow showers.  The Yellowstone River, flowing north out of the park, was not frozen due to the thermal features of the park. There’s nothing like Yellowstone in the winter.  Yellowstone always provides perspective and introspection.  Every time I go to Yellowstone, the experience changes with new vistas, wildlife, challenges, and accomplishments.   This particular visit was very short; only one day.

As we drove south from the north entrance, the road crossed over the Yellowstone River in several places.  Just after crossing a bridge, a turnoff offered us a chance to stop.  The snow was knee deep in places as I slid down the river bank toward the river.  After clearing through some trees, the river bank offered several great views.  One vista was a majestic mountain.  After capturing several images of the mountain, I turned around to this more serene view.  Although it was midday, the sun was shining through a thin cloud layer softening the light.  Blowing snow and the calming sound of water ripples from the river completed the experience.  My reaction was immediate.  Click!

Lone Tree on the Badlands    Nothing says Great American Prairie like a lone tree on the rolling mixed grass prairie of the Badlands. Lone tree images convey sense of quiet solitude. They remind us how a solitary figure stands tall against all odds. The lone tree provides raw strength to the image as well as a sense of resilience and perseverance.  Like many photographers, the lone tree is one of my favorite subjects.  Actually, unlike many of my images, I visited this site in Badlands NP many times before the clouds provided a nice background.  Then, I moved around the tree to get the right angle on the composition until this basic image filled my viewfinder.  The wind was making the leaves on the tree move too much so I waited and waited and waited.  All the while, the clouds were moving as well.  So, I waited longer.  The early morning light was beginning to change.  Finally, everything lined up.  The clouds looked nice. The wind calmed down a bit.  Everything was right with the world in front of me.  Click! 

Evening on the Lake   What a beautiful end to a nice day on the lake!  Just enough light remained to cast both color and shadows on the lake.  The air was calm but small waves persisted on the lake.  A long exposure would hopefully smooth the water.  From the dock, I experimented with different exposures while waiting for the best shadow and color.  With everything dialed into the camera, the calm wait for the best composition was quite pleasant.  Then, CLICK!!!   Actually, I captured several long exposures before leaving.

Platte River Sunset   Platte River sunsets make beautiful images.  Each year, the Platte River in central Nebraska, during late February, March, and Early April, beckons us to come and experience Sandhill Cranes by the thousands.  The black dots in the sky are Sandhill Cranes coming to roost for the night on the swallow sand bars of the river.  Over a couple of months, over 500,000 Sandhill Cranes will make their annual visit to the Platte River.  They’ll feed, rest, and gain weight for their flight back to Alaska, Canada, and Siberia.  This image was captured near one of the bridges crossing the river.  The weather was warm for early April with a very light breeze.  A few other photographers waited with me along the river’s bank.  As the sun set, the clouds lit up.  Click! 

 Each image will be posted individually this week with a bit more narrative under category The Moment Before the Click.

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Bill’s Backyard Pond | a 7 Image Story

Bill's Backyard Pond | VistaBill’s Backyard Pond | a 7 Image Story   When visiting with Bill over coffee, I notice what a beautiful backyard he had.  I seldom post about man made nature, but this yard just cried out for a post.  It’s so nice, he has had several weddings in his backyard.  The waterfall flows into a small pond filled with water lilies.  The walkway winds around the waterfall and pond.  Numerous flower species call this garden home.

Vista  A wide angle does not show much detail, yet it gives a perspective on how extensive Bill’s garden extends.   Eye Level   Eye level to what, a rabbit?  Well yes, this image is positioned low.  It captures a better idea of the relief in the image.   Water Lily Closed  Getting close with this water lily required a strange lens combination; a 21mm Bill's Backyard Pond | Macro Flowerextension tube with a Nikon AF DC 135mm f2D lens.  The DC 135mm lens becomes a manual focus lens on the Nikon 1 V3 camera which works out very well for macro images.  And no, I did not fall or slip into the pond.   Flower  Red flowers add some contrast color to a largely green backyard pond.  Waterfall   Waterfall big or small make relaxing images.  Bill’s waterfall may not be the biggest or smallest.  Still, it’s nicely done.  Moth   This Moth seemed quiet comfortable on the lily pad.  With a little wind moving the pad and the moth moving around a bit, it took awhile to capture this image.  Also, the combination of a 21mm extension tube and a manual focus DC 135mm lens made the depth of field quiet narrow.  Water Lily Full Bloom   Water Lilies come in many varieties.  This one really stands out against the pads.  It’s a really nice thought as we leave Bill’s Backyard Pond.

Each image will be posted individually this week with a bit more narrative under category Bill’s Backyard Pond.

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Paddling Pleasant Lake | a 7 Image Story

Paddling Pleasant Lake | Beaver's HandiworkPaddling Pleasant Lake | a 7 Image Story   Paddling along Pleasant Lake’s shoreline will generally yield at least a few decent images.  On this day, the boat traffic was a bit heavier than usual, which made numerous waves.  Capturing macro images of the water lilies was very difficult due to the extremely short depth of field.  Still, the water is generally clear enough to see the water lily stems in the sandy lake bottom.

Beaver’s Handiwork   Paddling the Kayak on glassy flat water provides a nice platform to capture both macro water flower images as well as wildlife images.  It’s all about paddling slowly and gliding with camera in hand.

Great Blue Heron   Paddling slowly toward shore makes it a bit easier to capture nice wildlife images without disturbing the wildlife.  This Great Blue Heron still walked behind the bushes, but it did not fly away.

Male Eastern Kingbird   The male Kingbird is usually several feet above of the nest; standing guard.  This year, the Kingbird’s usual nesting place appears to have been destroyed.  The female and nest were not in sight.  Still, it must be very close.  If you get too close to the nest, the males will start screeching and dive bombing you.

New Driftwood   Paddling into calm water with late afternoon light allows creation of a serene photograph depicting the essence of nature on a small northern Michigan lake.

Insect on Lily Pad Flower  This macro image was captured using a 10mm extension.  The water lily was moving up and down due to waves on the lake.  My kayak was moving in reaction to the waves.  My arm was moving since it was outstretched to manually focus the camera very close to the lily.  With such a narrow depth of field, it’s amazing that anything was in focus.

Feather in the Grass  A lone feather blowing in the wind adores the lakeside grass.  No telling where it’s from or where it’s going!

Red Lake Door   A holiday on Pleasant Lake would not be complete without the red door.  This year the red door seems to be pointing us skyward.

Each image will be posted individually this week with a bit more narrative under category Paddling Pleasant Lake.

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Spring 2020 Hodgepodge | a 7 Image Story

Spring 2020 Hodgepodge | Rough RoseSpring 2020 Hodgepodge | a 7 Image Story  This year’s spring was wetter than normal.  The flowers as well as the weeds seemed to grow sooner, faster, and higher. These images were all captured on my daily walkabouts. The big change this spring is my use of extension tubes to photograph flowers and greenery.  They allow the camera to focus closer to the subject allowing more detail in the image.

Rough Rose  This extension tube macro image captures the weather wear of this hybrid tea rose.   Rose-breasted Grosbeak  The rose-breasted grosbeak is a large seed-eating bird in the cardinal family.  They have a lifespan of  about 7 years in the wild and up to 24 years in captivity.   Tiger Lily  Although the Nikon AF DC 135mm f2D coupled to 10mm extension tube is a manual focus lens on the Nikon 1 V3 camera, it can produce a very nice detailed image like this Tiger Lily.   Blue Jay  The Blue Jay is a common songbird in northern Illinois They mainly feed on nuts and seeds so they show up every day to the bird feeder.  They are very aggressive and sometimes attack other birds.  When they arrive at the bird feeder, all the other birds leave.   Orange Lily  Lilies of various types are common to northern Illinois.  Macro photography allows us to get a closer look.  And, of course, sometimes a lucky shot captures a sweat bee in flight.   Painted Turtle  The Painted Turtle is the most widespread native turtle of North America.  It likes to live in slow-moving fresh waters.  Fossils show that the painted turtle existed 15 million years ago. Must be a tough little critter!  This female is laying her eggs in some nice dirt along a grassy edge.   Green Leaf  Again, macro photography reveals interesting shapes.  Not sure what type of plant has been captured in this image!  Macro photography seems to force a very thin depth of field regardless of the f-stop used.  In this image, keeping the leaf tips and the stem in sharp focus seemed virtually impossible.

Each image will be posted individually this week with a bit more narrative under category Spring 2020 Hodgepodge.

Click any image below for a slide show.