pieceoflace's photostream  

Good morning. I hope everyone had a nice weekend and Happy Butterfly Monday. As the title indicates, featured again for today is an American Snout (Libytheana carinenta), a butterfly I rarely see. Typically only a few in a given year if I'm lucky as they are not very common here locally since the ones we do have are migrants from further south.

As for these photos, it's the same butterfly I featured in a series last July (2011) and all were taken at the reclaimed strip mine. Normally Snouts are quite skitterish, but this one was very co-operative while feeding on Fleabane, and in between when resting. It was the only Snout of just three I saw last season in which I was able to photograph.

Thank you for stopping by, and good night Mrs. Calabash...wherever you are.

Lacey

ISO400, aperture f/11, exposure .004 seconds (1/250) focal length 300mm

Good morning everyone. For Feathery Friday I thought I would post a short series on the American Goldfinch (Carduelis tristis), also known as the Eastern Goldfinch and Wild Canary. These tiny birds are year around resident here and the only type bird (i.e. a finch) that I have a feeder for since the resident squirrels can't get at the seed.

As for these photos, all were taken at the end of 2011 and all the birds, especially the males, are in their winter plumage. To see a male in its summer plumage, which is dramatically different than the male pictured in the first photo in the comment section, please click on below link...

www.flickr.com/photos/pieceoflace/5713105654/

Thank you for visiting...and I hope you have a terrific Friday and a most pleasant weekend.

Lacey

ISO400, aperture f/8, exposure .006 seconds (1/180) focal length 500mm

Good morning everyone and Happy Dragonfly Thursday. After posting a series late in 2011 on the female I thought it was long overdue to follow-up with a series on the male Widow Skimmer (Libellula luctuosa). Nothing special, just a few photos from my archives taken last season.

As for the photos, the first two are of mature males while the last two are of a teneral male (not fully mature) and a female respectively for comparison purposes.

Thank you for stopping by...and I hope you have a truly nice day.

Lacey

ISO400, aperture f/11, exposure .011 seconds (1/90) focal length 300mm

Good morning everyone and Happy Hug a Bug Day. Featured for one more time from last season is the Banded Argiope (Argiope trifasciata). The most common Argiope spider here locally and definitely the largest spider along with its close cousin the Black & Yellow Argiope.

As for these photos, they're all females and all were taken in the fields at the reclaimed strip mine I frequent often. The first photo in the comment section is of an immature female that was much smaller in size than the other three mature females pictured in this series. The second photo in the comment section is of a mature female I photograhed while she was in the process of repairing her web. The last is a ventral view of the same spider in the above photo.

Thank you for stopping by...and I hope you have a truly great day.

Lacey

ISO400, aperture f/11, exposure .006 seconds (1/180) focal length 230mm

Good morning everyone and I hope you had a nice weekend. Featured once again for Butterfly Monday is the Common Buckeye (Junonia coenia) seen in these pics feeding on Water Smartweed. The photos were taken in late August when the Water Smartweed was in full bloom along a bog next to Lacey Pond.

I also posted a photo in the comment section showing the plants where these photos were taken along with a brief description of the plant.

Thank you for stopping by...and I hope you have a truly great Monday and week.

Lacey

ISO400, aperture f/11, exposure .004 seconds (1/250) focal length 300mm