An Uphill Walk

Up on the South ridge I've been photographing the butterflies in the car park of the Nature Center. I'd been told of a couple of meadows that are teeming with butterflies but are fair old walk uphill. I've been waiting for a slightly cooler day and as it was going to be in the low 80's today was the day. I walked up the steep gradient to the Observation Tower and sure enough the meadow was everything I'd been told. It was indeed teeming with Eastern Tiger Swallowtails, Zebra Swallowtails, Black Swallowtails and Spicebush Swallowtails.

American Painted Lady

Eastern Tiger Swallowtail

Eastern Tiger Swallowtail

Eastern Tiger Swallowtail

Eastern Tiger Swallowtail

Spicebush Swallowtail

Zebra Swallowtail

Butterflies and a Moth

It was hot, damned hot this afternoon, it was 95F (35C) but loads of Butterflies and Hummingbird Clearwings on the Buddleia and Bergamot. I want a nice shot of the Zebra Swallowtail, they are fast flying and never keep the wings still. I'm going to have to resort to using flash as some of these shots are ISO12800 which is a bit high considering it was bright sunlight but I needed to use 1/4000 sec to freeze the wings.

Eastern Tiger Swallowtail

Eastern Tiger Swallowtail

Great Spangled Fritillary

Hummingbird Clearwing

Hummingbird Clearwing

Spicebush Swallowtail

but wait....... there's more.

 A few more from yesterdays trip down to Bombay Hook.

Blue Grosbeak

Blue Grosbeak

Caspian Tern

Caspian Tern

Egret Tree

Leatherberry Flats

Leatherberry Flats

Mute Swan

Purple Martin

Snowy Egret

Snowy Egret

Bombay Hook

Another trip over the border into Delaware to visit Bombay Hook. Lots more shorebirds this trip which is what I wanted to see. I wanted to photograph them down at Port Mahon on the Bay. Heaps of birds but the light was dreadful. Not only that it was hot, I saw 92F (33.33C). Next time I'll pick a more overcast and cooler day to go.

Bald Eagle

Black Skimmer

Black Skimmer

Black Skimmer

Blue Grosbeak

Canada Geese

Caspian Tern

Cottontail Rabbit

Eastern Kingbird

Eastern Kingbird

Eastern Kingbird

Eastern Kingbird

Green Heron

Osprey

Purple Martin

Raccoon

after his morning swim

Snowy Egret

Snowy Egret

Yellow-crowned Night-Heron

Got a Zebra!

 Yay! I got a shot of a Zebra this morning. Swallowtail, not the stripey horse thingy you get in Africa. I went up to the ridge to the South of me to a nice flowery area and managed to get a quick few shots in before he fluttered off into the wild. There were a few other butterflies that were cooperative so I took a few shots of them too. In alphabetical order here they are.

Great Spangled Fritillary

Great Spangled Fritillary

Monarch

Spicebush Swallowtail

Spicebush Swallowtail

Spicebush Swallowtail

Zebra Swallowtail