Wow! It actually felt like fall, as far as fall goes in SoCal. Saturday's high was 77º and today we crept under that with a high of 76.7º. But wait! Here's what's predicted for next weekend...
So that sucks.
Onto Saturday...
"Look behind you..."
The weather. |
I made a quick loop around, just to check things out.
Chocolate daisy, Berlandiera lyrata. |
Sago palm. |
I'm almost full circle and about to deliver a kiss to my girl, Docken but I couldn't pass this up.
Sciurus niger, aka, fox squirrel, munching palo verde tree seedpods. |
Close-up crop. |
Back to butterflies. This is the best looking skipper butterfly I think I've ever seen.
Checkered skipper butterfly, Pyrgus communis. |
Today...
Tiny yellow flowers and big yellow water lilies but the butterflies were once again the stars of the day.
The checkered skipper returns again...
Closer... |
Closest. |
I was surprised to get 80 shots off of this Gulf Fritillary, Agraulis vanillae, with a close up lens. The front of my 70-300 mm lens is only a few inches away yet the butterfly was unperturbed.
The pièce de résistance, the mating ritual of Leptotes marina, aka, the blue marine butterfly. These shots were over the course of 1:15 seconds. I got about 50 shots off using a Canon EF70-300 mm f/4-5.6 IS USM at 180 mm and a Canon 500D close up lens. It was a stunning spectacle.
The female makes her presence known, flashing her wings.
The approach. The male is on your left.
The flurry... (sorry about the lack of focus, this was a little tough with the limited dof of the lens combo.
After the interlude she's left alone...
"Are you looking at me?" |
About 10 minutes later, I believe this is the same female and I believe she's laying eggs.
On the way home, this little fellow caught my eye. This is a gray hairstreak butterfly, Strymon melinus. Like most butterflies in the family Lycaenidae, the gray hairstreak has a false head on the hind wings to distract predators and protect the head/body from fatal attack. For me, it attracted my attention.
Beautiful photos, Eric! I hope you and Docken are well.
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