Thursdays at Reynolda Gardens

This may be a new trend.  I went to Reynolda Gardens on Thursday again.  It has cooled down a little this week, and this time I went after work.  Of course I would go every day if I could!  Maybe I can just move into the play house.

Lots of butterflies today!  I even saw a Monarch, but it was too fast for me.

Common Buckeye

Eastern Tiger Swallowtail

Hummingbird Clearwing Moth

Some kind of cool drangonfly.  Blue Dasher I think.

Early Morning at Reynolda Gardens

One thing I used to do years ago was go to Reynolda Gardens before work, so I decided to do this Thursday morning, since the days have been so hot.  When I got there the sprinklers were on.  Oh yeah, now I remember!  They weren't on everywhere, but the ground was wet pretty much everywhere.  My feet got soaked, but I did not care, it was so nice.  And I saw some of these:

Eastern Tiger Swallowtail

And the water made for some pretty cool pics:

This is my fave.  I used the florescent white balance.  I love the blue tones.  Part of my homework for a year-long online (free) photography class called 'A Year with My Camera'.  It's pretty cool, check it out sometime.  I used the MCON-P01 macro converter on this one.  Not sure if they make these any more, I found one the other day for a pretty decent price and ordered it.  The one I have is kind of old, and has some scratches, but still works good.  I'll be curious to see if there is a difference with the new one. 

Fridays at Reynolda Gardens and Sundays at Little Walden

So many cool things to post last week I am behind schedule!

Friday:

Common Buckeye

 The lion head fountain is one of my favorite features of the Gardens.

 Ailanthus Webworm moth on Sedum, got some of this for my butterfly garden, I hope I don't kill it, I don't exactly have a green thumb.

Sunday:

 Eastern Tiger Swallowtail

 Dragonfly - lucky shot, he was fast!

 Little stone building on the nature trail

I know most people call these Daddy Longlegs, but I have always called them Grandaddy Longlegs.  Probably something my Grandaddy told me when I was little. :)

NC Zoo

Tuesday my son and I went to the NC Zoo in Asheboro.  We usually go at least once a year.  This was one of the best trips yet (even though the polar bears are on sabbatical), because we went on the giraffe deck and got to feed a giraffe!  Also there were so many cute babies to see.

 African Elephant

 Baby girl Giraffe - Juma, who is 2 months old

 Feeding leaves to Jamili, Yuma's mom

 :)

 Gorilla and baby - not sure which one this is there were 2 gorilla babies, one about a month old and one just a few days old!

Ebi - 8 month old baby girl Chimpanzee

Sundays at Little Walden

Ahhh, Sunday.  And even better, no getting up early Monday morning!

 Eastern Tiger Swallowtail - I never get tired of seeing these.

 Long-tailed Skipper - I used to never see these and this year I have seen them all over.

Baby Deer - so excited to see this little cutie (and 2 older deer) as I was leaving.  Good thing my son was driving so I could take some pictures from the car.

Fridays at Reynolda Gardens and Tanglewood Arboretum

Yahoo!  10 glorious days off in a row!  And I had a wonderful start at RG Friday morning.

 Painted Lady - you can tell Painted Ladies from American Painted Ladies from the eyespots on the lower wing.  American Painted Ladies have 2 and Painted Ladies have 4.

Eastern Tiger Swallowtail

Water Lily - love this one!

Then after RG, I swung by the Arboretum at Tanglewood.  I didn't stay too long though because it was a tad hot and the mosquitoes were eating me up!  Still saw some butterflies though.

I thought this was a Pearl Crescent, but after looking at my book I think it may be a Silvery Checkerspot.

Sundays at Little Walden

Didn't know if I would make it to Little Walden today, it rained all morning.  It cleared up, but no sun.  It was actually a little chilly, but no complaints here!

 Hummingbird Moth

Eastern Tiger Swallowtail

Fridays at Reynolda Gardens

Beautiful morning at Reynolda Gardens!

I hate to think why this spider was lurking in the phlox, but I have to admit he was so pretty!

Green Lynx Spider

Fridays at Reynolda Gardens - Take 2

I got up early Friday morning to go to Reynolda Gardens - and no butterflies!  I did get some yummy veggies from the farmer's market, tomatoes, squash, potatoes, peppers and crowder peas (which I have never had before!).  There were lots of bumble bees though.

Loving my new lens.

So, of course I had to try again after work and I was not disappointed.  Swallowtails and Skippers everywhere!

 Sharing.

 Yin and Yang.

See the little skipper shadow?

Sundays at Little Walden

The Tanglewood Butterfly Garden and the Little Walden Pond are becoming a tradition for me on Sundays.  It's so peaceful there I love it.

There were tons of Skippers there today.  They especially seem to like the Lantana.  I should get more for my own garden.

These 2 are the same Skipper.  This is a Zabulon Skipper.  So bright and colorful!  I love when they open their wings.  They remind me of tiny little fighter planes.

I wasn't sure what type of Skipper this was, so I checked by book, then checked on-line, then rechecked my book, and I think this is one is actually a Zabulon also.  This is a female and the first one is a male.

I got a new lens (Olympus M Zuiko 45mm f1.8) for my camera (Olympus E-PL1) this week-end.  I have wanted this lens for a looooonng time!  By itself it is not the lens to use for butterfly shooting, but with my MCON-P01 macro converter, it's not too bad.  It takes some getting used to, I am used to zooming in and out whenever I need too and the new one is a fixed length.  But so far I am really enjoying it.  All the photos from today were taken with this lens.

I even got to use it when I got home and had a visitor in my own butterfly garden.

Eastern Tiger Swallowtail

Fridays at Reynolda Gardens

Lots of pretty butterflies at Reynolda Gardens today.

Male Eastern Tiger Swallowtail.  I set my white balance to fluorescent-1 on this one.  I like to use that setting because it gives photos a vintagey-purply quality.

Female Eastern Tiger Swallowtail.  I used the popart filter on this one, which sort of super-saturates the hues.

Silver-Spotted Skipper

And a few moths, that you wouldn't really think were moths.

 Yellow Collared Scape Moth

Ailanthus Webworm Moth - love these!

Fridays at Reynolda Gardens

I noticed this one little skipper that seemed to be staring at me.  

He seemed very interested in what I was doing, so I put my finger in front of him and he climbed on!

I have never seen purple basil before, and this one had a bonus:

Gray Hairstreak

Peek-a-boo!  Eastern Tiger Swallowtail