Okay, so I finally walked away from the Claude the Caterpillar and continued my way around the boardwalk.
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| Purple and Orange |
An Eastern Tailed Blue Butterfly on Butterfly Milkweed. I love contrasting colors, so his purple on the orange is very striking. And it was nice that he was showing off the insides of his wings. So many of the butterflies that sit still long enough to be captured are folded up and the undersides of their wings aren't as interesting in most cases.
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| Eastern Tailed Blue Flies Off |
He flew off for a second, giving me a great view of the dark lines on his wing edges.
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| Eastern Tailed Blue Wings: Inside and Out |
But then he came back and landed facing me, which was nice. You can actually see his wing-tails in this shot. And he got a little buggy friend on the far left flower bud.
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| Twelve-Spotted Skimmer with Faded Edges |
Several things decided to sit still for me on this walk. Considering it was (apparently) one of the last really hot days in Chicago for the year, I was expecting the cold-bloodeds to be more active, but hey, not arguing. :)
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| Purple, Green and Yellow |
This one is neat for the way the color slashes across the really drab background. The purple flowers and then the yellow of both the bee and the flower buds, not to mention the bright green stem.
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| Familiar Bluet, Brilliant Blue |
A case-in-point for why cameras have a manual focus. There's no way in the world my auto focus would have been able to grab something as slender as this Familiar Bluet damselfly.
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| Mrs. Pondhawk |
So a female Eastern Pondhawk finally sat still for a second. I've got tons of shots of the very blue males, but the females tend to be more active and/or blend in to their surroundings to the point that they're much more difficult to shoot.
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| It's So Easy Being Green |
She flipped over to another leaf and I loved the way she added color to a very green shot, even though she's green too. She also moved out of the shadows making the temperature of the picture change drastically.
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| Pensive Gull |
So in Chicago we tend to just refer to these as 'seagulls', but more properly they're Ring-Billed Gulls, for reasons that are pretty obvious in this shot. As I'm getting more specie of gulls, I need to try to be more specific. :) I typically get annoyed when all I can get a good shot of is an animal's back. It's
easier to get their backs sometimes because they aren't looking at you and don't see you coming, but the picture isn't as good. I came up from behind this guy and he turned his head just enough to be seen. It makes him look pensive. As if he's debating what's out in that pond for him.
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| Profile Gull |
When he turned to look at me more fully he looses that 'thinky' look and becomes a little more evil looking. Which, to be fair, isn't all anthropomorphication - these birds have very little fear of humans and can be very nasty.
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| Japenese Beetle on Stem |
Okay, I was finally able to Google a species on this guy, who I first noticed at
Midewin. He's a Japanese Beetle. Very shiny.
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| Antennae Like Leaves |
He's hanging on for dear life here, but it gives a great view of the white spots around his shell and the little fringes on the tips of his antennae.
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| Seems Well Behaved Enough |
This is apparently called an Obedient Plant. Where did I find it listed? On a list of "Most Unwanted" plants for Kentucky. So much for obedient if it can't stay out of areas it isn't wanted. ;)
I'm actually kind of keen on it's odd shape and the fact that it blossoms from the bottom up. It reminds me of Thai-style decorations.
Okay, I have one more card of shots to go through from this walk and then I can finally move on to a new location. :)
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