Female Eastern Tiger Swallowtail with a 180mm

Used the 180mm f2.8 on this Palamedes and the Blazing Star along Cone Bridge Road.

Two Bucks!

Did not get great shots off, but two buckeyes were present in the Blazing Stars...

Gulf Fritillary upon Blazing Star

My intention was to use the legacy or old manual focus lenses on the butterflies. This one was from the 80-200 Nikon manual focus zoom lens. I soon stopped with the legacy lenses as I kept missing the exposure and focus. Plus, they are heavy as tanks.

Palamedes

This Palamedes Swallowtail I waited over ten minutes to come closer as Mr Thomas and another man sat in the four-wheel drive pickups behind me on the dirt road watching, talking of dogs and land ownership and stuff other than butterflies. I did not know what to call the Elegant Blazing Star plants, could not think of what the Zebra Swallowtail was. He said he thought the blazing stars were from the dog fennel family. I told him I was trying to photograph a rare butterfly. He probably wrote me off a cuckoo.

Cloudless Sulpur

Like the Zebra, the Cloudless is elusive as well. Seldom lights for long upon one plant.
If you approach immediately takes flight. All in the fun of chasing them.

Zebra Swallowtail

Not as common, I was happy to see the Zebra Swallowtail with its nice elongated tails on its wings. It was quite elusive and difficult to get a good photograph of. Thus, the need to return and try again!
Perhaps spot that bear Mr Thomas said was lurking about.

Cone Bridge Road

I was in butterfly nirvana yesterday along the Cone Bridge road that leads to the Suwannee. All along both sides of the dirt road the Elegant Blazing Star plants were in bloom with Fritillaries, Sulphurs and Swallowtails feeding among them in the breeze. Even spotted a Zebra Swallowtail. Met Don Thomas who lives up that way, thinking I was broke down. Funny how the locals greet a fellow out photographing butterflies, kind of like one snickers at an effeminate guy behind their back. You just pick up on their smirkiness. Funny.
He said a large bear was in the area, had I seen him. I assured him if I had, I would have been in the Suwanneee as I had hiked a ways along the bank upstream earlier.
Too bad the drive up is twenty-five miles or I would go up there daily.

Dust Camo

Always wondered how dust got in the house....here an unknown insect is either carrying this tuft of dust or it is the creature in his camouflage. He was about the size of * on the keyboard.

Nice Eyes

Interesting vertical eyes on this grasshopper. One of the few insects found in the yard yesterday.

Yard Work

Like a prisoner, confined to the yard. Walking about looking for creatures. I find less and less insects about as I did in the past. I do not know what is going on, I guess Steve's conspirator theories apply somewhere here.
Lately I have been using the old Nikon 105mm 2.8 macro lens on the D3100. It functions OK if you are patient with the focus, as the depth of field is minuscule.
Today is Wednesday here in Lake City, Florida and tonight at seven Melanie, Jordon and I are heading over to the Cinema in Gainesville to see the encore movie by Kirk Cameron titled Unstoppable.
In the meanwhile, due to my state of unemployment, I am going to travel up the road a ways to Cone Bridge and scope out the Suwannee River and possibly see if more insects exist up there.

Snail Travail

Watching the Limpkins dispatch the apple snails with their sharp beaks. They are quite efficient at the task. Like humans, when one does all the work, the others gather around and try to steal the meal.

Oh October

There was the time before OH NINE when the calendar turned to October, we looked forward to the cool fall days of riding the bicycle a hundred miles through the horse farms of Ocala, of running the 10K at the Great Forest Festival in Perry in thirty five minutes then jumping in the cold Ichetucknee and swimming upstream into the bracing current.
Now when the first click of that tenth month rolls I look back and am just thankful to still be here, to enjoy sitting in the backyard watching the cloudless sulphurs feed, of waiting expectantly for the Sandhill Cranes to return, listening for the first calls, of walking the dogs to the corner and back.
Long gone the speed once taken so granted and so hard worked for to maintain. The weight of years settling around the mid-section, the bicycles kept oiled and aired, yet unridden over five miles.
Melanie too greets October as an old acquaintance that came to visit, not quite remembering the visit that laid her down until after Thanksgiving in a coma, H1N1 ravaging her life and ours.
After our four year degree in suffering, we looked forward to the possible latter years of calm from sorrow. Then the tenth month arrived early in the third month and our little first two year old grandson Nathaniel was taken from us. Not in death, but in a separation of all communication from his grand parents and loved ones. We would gladly undergo again the stint and pacemaker surgeries, the induced coma, if we knew the outcome would be a reunion again with the joy of our lives.
We cannot fathom or understand why the suffering, why the separation. We strain to maintain an appearance of wellness, when within we are bleeding internally.
Oh October, once again be kind to John and Melanie!