Butterfly-palooza Day 30: The Banded Peacock

A google image search on a cropped image helped me to come up with a name on this butterfly, the Banded Peacock, or Anartia fatima. The name is a really interesting one for this butterfly, although I couldn't say why exactly it would be given that name. (I'm not sure about the meaning of Anartia fatima, but banded peacock makes me think of the bird. I'm not sure that the butterfly bears much resemblance.) Happy 30 days of butterfly-palooza; we're almost at 10% of the year! (I suppose that would be six and a half more butterfly posts.) Thanks for stopping by!

Butterfly-palooza: Day 29

After something of a butterfly hiatus, the palooza is back with this... butterfly. I thought that the butterfly was cool, as well as the weird lines of the bench that it was resting on. Thanks for stopping by!

Zoo Flamingo Reflected in the Water (Dry Brush Filter)

This zoo flamingo was extremely washed out by the light, but what I liked best about this image was the shape of the flamingo, with the bird's head stuck in the water, creating a symmetrical mirror image between the bird and its reflection. Thanks for stopping by!

Vacation Lizard

These little lizards were mostly everywhere that we went on our vacation to Florida this past autumn. In fact, I had a conversation with another fellow, who told me that he and his kids had actually tried to catch them (and found out that they bite). While the idea of having a little lizard to remember my Florida trip sounded cool, I thought that I would be better off buying one from a pet store. And as we start to get settled in for a Minnesota winter, I'm not so sure that this kind of lizard would be too much for our snow and sub-zero temperatures.

Thanks for stopping by!

Butterfly Flowers (Dry Brush / Watercolor Filters)

On my vacation this past fall, I happened to see these oddly shaped flowers. They were cone shaped. Later on, while playing a video game, I happened to see the same flower came up as something that would attract butterflies. Huh. Learned something new. Thanks for stopping by!

Pink and White Showy Ladyslipper (Dry Brush Filter)

These three little maids were all in a row this past summer as I took the opportunity to photograph these Pink and Showy Ladyslipper (Minnesota's state flower) growing in a ditch alongside the highway. If you happen to catch these flowers in their prime, they are very pretty to look at. Thanks for stopping by!

Little Yellow Bird in a Big Green World (Dry Brush Filter)

This would be a "Where's Waldo" featuring the American Goldfinch, except that -- in the midst of the green foliage, the yellow goldfinch stands out like a sore thumb (albeit, a rather nice looking sore thumb.) I like the cheery yellow color of the goldfinch.

I'm still not sure why my photos are taking quite a while to upload. (In all fairness to Blogger, perhaps it's my computer or my internet connection.) Thanks for stopping by!

The Idea of a Nuthatch (Dry Brush Filter)

I think of the nuthatch as a rather understated bird. Should the nuthatch become endangered, I can't imagine that there would ever be big rallies or campaigns to "Save the Nuthatch!" Who cares for a muted gray, black, and white bird? The nuthatch would disappear quietly, without any of the fanfare devoted to other more colorful, more majestic birds. In a similar way, I think that it is safe to assume that no one will say, "Remember that photographer guy who took pictures of nuthatches?" No, the one who will be remembered for his photography is the one who captured eagles and mountains, lions and whales, elephants, glaciers, grand ocean seascapes, etc. The one who pictured the nuthatch will no doubt disappear from memory much like his little bird. His comfort, though, is in the one who also remembers the little birds.

(Today's overly thoughtful post was made possible by Blogger, which gave me lots of time to think as it took an exceedingly long time to upload my 6 MB picture.) Thanks again for stopping by!

Zoo Bird on Vacation (Dry Brush Filter)

While I was away on vacation a few weeks ago, I caught this zoo bird (note the green tag on its leg) with my camera. The bird was standing near a puddle (love the green reflection; it's from the nearby foliage/trees). Thanks for stopping by!

Oriole Looking Up (Palette Knife Filter)

I really liked the shape of this male oriole, perched on the clothesline pole in my yard. I like the curve in the bird; it looks like it's just about ready to fly off again.

Thanks for stopping by!

Chipping Sparrow Looking into the Brush for... (Dry Brush Filter)

I'm sure that this chipping sparrow was looking for worms or bugs or whatever it is that chipping sparrows eat. Those dead leaves lining the sidewalk provided good cover for those worms, bugs, etc., at least until the chipping sparrow came poking its beak around, overturning the brush to find a delectable meal. Thanks for stopping by!

Deer in the Field (Dry Brush Filter)

Later that same day (in which I had seen the flicker from yesterday's photo,) I traveled over to Alexandria to look at the ducks, geese, and swan (swans?) in a local park. On the way home, a deer crossed the road and went into a field, where it stopped. Having my camera handy, I pulled off to the side of the road, lowered my driver's side window, and started taking pictures. Thanks for stopping by!

Flicker Looking for Bugs in the Dirt (Dry Brush Filter)

My favorite part about watching flickers is the dance that the birds do in the spring. Back in the spring of the year, we had a pair of flickers up in the tree outside of our house. It was the first that I had seen of the flickers, or at least, the first that I had noticed (because I was looking for birds with my camera.) Upon noticing the flickers in the tree, I watched them do a "dance" - a coordinated choreography in which they nodded back and forth to each other on the tree. I'm sure that it was some kind of courtship (being spring and all.) The picture above, taken in mid-summer, is not nearly as interesting, where the lone flicker is looking for bugs in the dirt, which is pretty much what I saw the flicker doing for the next several months after I first noticed it. Thanks for stopping by!

Crab Apple Blossom Buds (Dry Brush Filter)

This picture brings back memories of late spring/early summer, when the crab apple tree in my yard started budding. Now in the fall, I have all sorts of big shooter marble-sized crab apples in my yard, which are not quite as pretty as the flowers in the tree. Thanks for stopping by!

Robin on the Sidewalk

The robin posed just long enough on the sidewalk for me to get this picture. (I was actually shooting pictures in succession and found a few blurry running robin pictures shortly after this one.) Thanks for stopping by!

Storybook Squirrel, Mouth Full (Dry Brush Filter)

This picture reminds me of something from a story that I read as a child. The main character was in some kind of serious trouble, and he encountered some animal - pictured like the squirrel above - whose mouth was full of something so that it could not respond to the distressed main character. I thought that perhaps it was something from Beatrix Potter, but a quick perusal of Peter Rabbit, Squirrel Nutkin, and Benjamin Bunny proved fruitless. So, I'm not sure what story it was from, but... thanks for stopping by!

Black/White Duck with Tangled Tree Branches (Dry Brush Filter)

I really liked the tangled tree branches in this picture and wanted to find a way to include them with the duck. I had hoped that I could do something cool again in the cutout filter, but it just didn't look right. So, I opted for the dry brush filter. I'm not sure that the filter makes this look like a painting, but I do think that it smoothed over some of the rough spots. I do like how I can still make out some of the markings on the duck in this photo. Thanks for stopping by!

Black/White Duck in the Tree (Cutout Filter)

The original file here was not exactly the best photo. So, what do you do? I decided to try playing with the photo filters to see if there was something that I might like. After converting the image to grayscale, I used the cutout filter to produce the image above. I like how you can still make out the duck, and I like the lines of the tree branches across the image. Thanks for stopping by!

Cardinal in the Leaves (Dry Brush Filter)

The cardinal came back down to the ground and was poking around in the leaves, probably looking for food. Thanks for stopping by!

Cardinal in the Branches (Dry Brush Filter)

Playing on yesterday's title (Cardinal in the Brush), today's bird is a cardinal in the branches. These are actually lilac trees where the cardinal has come to rest, although at this point in the year (late April) it was too early for lilacs. Thanks for stopping by!

Cardinal in the Brush (Dry Brush Filter)

I really like cardinals. I like the males stand out with their red color, but I also like the females that are far more subtle in gray. What I like about the above picture is the way that the cardinal is almost hidden by the brush, except that it's red color rather makes it stand out. Thanks for stopping by!

Rainy Day Chickadee (Dry Brush Filter)

Looking back through the pictures from last spring, I found this rainy day chickadee that was looking for seeds on my deck. It's been a while since I've seen the chickadees, but then again, it's been a while since I last set seeds out on my deck. Thanks for stopping by!

Robin Overlooking the Yard (Dry Brush Filter)

I'm not quite sure what this robin was thinking as it looked over the yard, although - with all of the dead leaves, it was probably thinking that this would be a great place to look for worms. Thanks for stopping by!

Nuthatch on a Tree (Dry Brush Filter)

As we find ourselves moving into early autumn, I started thinking back to early spring... Actually, I found one of my flash drives with some older pictures on it, and as I was thumbing through, I decided to take a break from the butterflies and revisit my old friend, the nuthatch. Thanks for stopping by!

Butterfly-palooza Day 28 (Dry Brush Filter)

Butterfly Dangerous! -- Butterfly-palooza Day 27 (Dry Brush Filter)

No, I don't think that there was anything dangerous about this particular butterfly. It was the overall dark mood of this image (and I resisted edits to lighten it up) that reminded me of a book that I had purchased a number of years ago and meant to read (but never got around to it) called: Dangerous World of Butterflies: The Startling Subculture of Criminals, Collectors, and Conservationists. There's something in the title that I think is intentionally jarring, a juxtaposition of ideas that seemingly do not go together. (What? Butterflies? Dangerous?) Well, those were my thoughts in composing the photo for this morning. Thanks for stopping by!

Butterfly-palooza Day 26: Doris (Dry Brush Filter)

There may come a point with these butterflies where one begins to look just about the same as the last one. ("Didn't I just post a picture of black butterfly with large sections of orange in the interior parts of its wings and white spots toward the outside?" -- I probably thought something similar when I was looking at the butterflies at The Original Butterfly House on Mackinac Island; "Hey, didn't I just see this butterfly?")

Yet, at least for me, the advantage comes in looking at the pictures after the fact to realize all of the amazing little details and the differences between them. Orange, black, and white -- yes. But, there's something different in the spots on this one, and the orange sections flare out into points along the bottom of the butterfly. And, speaking of points, the orange sections are pointing to a row of white dots along the bottom edge of the butterfly's wings!

Hope you enjoy! Thanks for stopping by!

(Googling the cropped version below, I came up with the name of this butterfly: The Laparus doris viridis.)

Happy 10-4, Good Buddy -- Butterfly-palooza Day 25 (Dry Brush Filter)

Today is October 4, or "10/4". The date reminds me of that line from the old Dukes of Hazard show, "10-4, good buddy." I looked it up on Wikipedia to see what it means; it's cb code to give your agreement. Not that any of this has anything to do with today's photo. I'm not sure that I could even make it stretch. Happy 10/4! Thanks for stopping by!

Butterfly and Flowers: Butterfly-palooza Day 24 (Dry Brush Filter)

Sometimes the tiny flowers are as interesting to look at as the butterflies. I like when my camera captures their long tongues drinking the nectar out of the flowers. Thanks for stopping by!

Orange and Black Heliconius Butterfly (Butterfly-palooza Day 23) (Dry Brush Filter)

When my dad uses his camera, he afterward likes to go back and look through his pictures to catch all of the details, to see what he otherwise might have missed. This Orange and Black Heliconius was what I would have missed; this image was cropped from a larger photo. I was taking pictures of a different butterfly (but wasn't very close and was using a fixed 24mm lens.) Looking at the images after the fact, I saw this very nice butterfly posed on the flower in the corner of the image, and... voila! Butterfly-palooza Day 24! Thanks for stopping by!

Return of Butterfly-palooza (Day 22)

After a little hiatus from Butterfly-palooza, I found the memory stick that had the pictures from my other camera. (Yeah!) So, butterfly-palooza continues! Thanks for stopping by!