Frank Scott Photography's photostream  

There was ice and snow along the edge of the lake and when we arrived Momma Moose was out in the open water up to her chest. She was dipping her head under the water and coming up with mouthfuls of pondweed and whatever else, all delicious to her. It was cold enough that there were icicles forming in her fur and on her eyelashes. This little critter was lying down on the shoreline, well hidden and under Momma's constant vision. After about thirty minutes, feeding time was over, Momma was coming out of the water and was moving on and we happened to be on the path she was taking. We backed up, Momma was passing through and we were still too close but this calf hesitated just long enough to get a few close up shots. The white background is the snow over the ice.

This shot is from a couple of years ago in Glacier National Park. I remember the afternoon very vividly because it was my first time photographing a bear let alone two Grizzlies. This bear and his sibling were enjoying a lazy afternoon along the banks of Lake Sherburne. Both bears were just lying there in the sun, after a while one would stand up and paw at the sand to rearrange it, kind of like fluffing up a pillow. Then the bear would stop and look at us then look back down at the new bed and maybe make another slight adjustment before lying down again. They were not overly concerned with our being there. They seemed too tired to care about three photographers.

Giant Swallowtail Butterfly

I can identify scarlet macaws and anteaters as well as redwing blackbirds and a herd of moose but there are a zillion types of Swallowtail butterflies that I know absolutely nothing about.

The grapefruit were ripe and I was picking a couple for our breakfast. I looked over at the lemon tree and there were two Swallowtail butterflies mating. Knowing that this was a photo op, I went back to the house for a camera. Returning, I took a couple of shots and knew that I could do better. So back to the house to get my small ladder that would put me at the same level as the butterflies. However, the ground was uneven and I was wobbling while standing on the ladder, so back to the house again to return the ladder and return with a tripod. Now that I had a tripod I thought that the 300mm f2.8 would be a better choice of lens. So, back to the house again for the 300mm and the ladder. Then, once I had everything set up I now decided I needed a cable release to do this properly. The ending might have been the butterflies flying away and a missed photo op but they were too busy and did not mind all of my intrusions.

I thought that identifying the butterflies was going to be difficult but after only a few minutes I found a Swallowtail site that stated that the Giant Swallowtail mated in citrus trees. Bingo.