Fridays at Reynolda Gardens

It was a rough week, but as soon as I got to RG Friday after work I felt instantly better!

Eastern Tailed-Blue

 Common Buckeye

 Fiery Skipper

Another Long-Tailed Skipper!

My Butterfly Garden

Had to go back to reality yesterday.  But there was a treat waiting for me in my butterfly garden when I got home.

 American Painted Lady

 Skipper

 Long-tailed Skipper

Some cute little moth

Sundays at Little Walden

Another beautiful day at the Little Walden Nature Trail.

 Skipper

 Eastern Tiger Swallowtail

 Teeny-tiny little butterfly.  I believe this is a Least Skipper.

Horace's Duskywing

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

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

Happy 4th of July!

Well, a day late.  Didn't make it to Tanglewood for the fireworks last night, so I went today to see some butterflies.

My first Long-Tailed Skipper!!  In the picture below you can see the upper part of the body is a beautiful green-blue color.

There were tons of Pearl Crescents today.

My fave of the day.

Fridays at Reynolda Gardens

Since this Friday the forecast high was 103 (whew!), I decided to get up extra early and go to Reynolda Gardens before work.  It was totally worth it and here is why:

 Cute little skipper (possibly a Sachem).

 Is it a moth?  Is is a hummingbird?  No, it's a Clearwing Hummingbird Moth!

My first turtle sighting at Reynolda Gardens!!

Fridays at Reynolda Gardens

Well I had to work a whole 5-day week this week, it was tough after all the long week-ends I have had.  But it did end on a good note, as I went to Reynolda Gardens after work was over Friday!

 Pearl Crescent

Hey, scooch over!!

Late Mother's Day Outing

Didn't make it to Tanglewood last week on Mother's Day because of the rain, but this Sunday was perfect!

These swallowtails don't like to keep their wings still, so I had to up my ISO and shutter speed to catch it.

Black Swallowtail

This is some type of skipper.  I always have trouble identifying skippers (well, except for Silver-Spotted).  I think this may be a Cloudywing.

Skipper

Also found this cool bug.  It was about 3 inches long.  I had no clue what it was, I had to look it up.

Eyed Elater Click Beetle

Fridays at Reynolda Gardens

What a beautiful day at my favorite spot.  And the best thing was I didn't have to go back to work afterwards!!

Silver-Spotted Skipper

American Painted Lady

Also had a surprise at the gardens today.  I almost walked right into this guy!

Black Snake

Fridays at Reynolda Gardens

Lots of pretty butterflies at Reynolda Gardens on Friday.

Silver-Spotted Skipper

Variegated Fritillary on a blanket flower

Cabbage White - My favorite shot of the day