I had expected to continue today with my blossoms articles. But on my walk this afternoon, the Monarch butterfly was so willing to pose that I am pausing to share these photos in almost real-time.
Like the Heron and turtles, the Monarch takes my breath away and I consider it a treat each time I see it. The photo above pretty well captures how the Monarch might first present itself. It stands out with radiant color amidst an environment of Joe-Pye-Weed, Purple Loosestrife, and competing insects – note the bee approaching at one o’clock. (Click on the photo to enlarge. Use your back arrow to return to the post.)
Displaying its open wings below, the black dots near the center and close to the bottom of the wings is the telltale characteristic of the male monarch. The black marks are its scent pockets.
The sunshine making it translucent against the blue of the sky, this butterfly scores a ten!
In the photo below, I don’t know whether to comment on the butterfly or the performance of my Nikon D40 camera – equipped with a telephoto lens. Here the camera adeptly blurs the background, while maintaining a crisp focus on the insect and plant.
Bringing the focus out a bit, you can appreciate the Monarch in its August setting of Joe-Pye, Purple Loosestrife, and Jewelweed (that bit of yellow on the left). In the area in which I live, this is the quintessential image of the Monarch.
Enlarge this photo (by clicking on it) for full appreciation. In complete outstretched display while busy at work, the Monarch shares the jungle-gym Joe-Pye with a bumble-bee (a blur at the upper left of the plant) and an incoming bee with its wings all-a-blur.
This is the action at the pond all summer – everywhere little cosmoses abuzz with the work of survival.
SilverLining 