Blog Archives
Wood Nymph
Dear Friends, this wood nymph on a knapweed flower is to illustrate how the light coming across the wings shows off the textural details of this butterfly wing. All the veining and cell details are emphasized when the light is right. til Tomorrow MJ
Dunlin
Dear Friends, this small shore bird visited Phantom Lake this spring, He has some beautiful shades of brown on his back enjoy til Tomrrow MJ
Skipper
Dear Friends, this tiny fellow is a skipper, but not sure his exact name. I am sure my friends at Crex can id him for me. He is perched and nectarine on some Vervain. i hope he enjoys his sweet lunch, til Tomorrow MJ
American Bittern
Dear Friends, this secretive bird is an American Bittern and on rare occasions he peeks out of the cat tails to seek food. til Tomorrow MJ
Nature Challenge Day 7
Dear Friends, ran out of butterfly images so i ran up to Lake Superior to find what i could find. Found this black swallowtail, a little smaller than the one in Crex, he posed so nicely on this yellow flower head. til Tomorrow MJ
Nature Challenge Day 6
Dear friends, this friendly butterfly has pink hair, green eyes and a pink fringe around his wing, he is the pink-edged sulphur butterfly and is only found if blueberries are around. His caterpillar stage eats blueberries and the butterfly will lay its eggs on the blueberry leaves. Quite the punker butterfly. til Tomorrow MJ
Nature Challenge Day 5
Dear Friends, this beautiful monarch butterfly is perched on the dreaded goldenrod, dreaded because many like me are allergic to its pollen, i have clipped some of the wing regions cause i wanted to emphasize the hind wing and it sections with oblong shaped orange, the look-alike viceroy butterfly is smaller and has a dark line across the hind wing. see the image below
Nature Challenge -Day4
Dear Friends, i think this tiny fellow is an Eastern Tailed Blue, see his tails on the end of the wings and his two orange spots fused on the border, he looks pretty fresh and new,and perched on the Blazing Star that is blooming all over Crex Meadows. til Tomorrow MJ
Nature Challenge -Day 3
Dear Friends, this handsome fella is an unknown, some kind of brown with eyes, maybe a Northern Pearly-eye, but i know the folks at Crex will help me out with the id of this pretty butterfly. til Tomorrow MJ
Nature Challenge-Day 2
Dear Friends, this butterfly is less than an inch in size and on a windy day like today, they only fly if they are disturbed. So the photo plan is to walk (or drive) until i see one fly up, then try to follow it to its perching spot. This is a Karner Butterfly and is identified by the blue iridescent spots above the orange on the back of the hind wing. Confused? they are present in Crex but not in great numbers so hunting is necessary. The image below shows the blue spots a bit more clear, the light has to be just right til Tomorrow MJ
MJ Springett 