Exotic Butterflies 3

 Green Clipper

Possibly a Black Swallowtail

Pink  Cattleheart

 Julia Longwing

 Zebra Longwing

 Giant Swallowtail

Two Blue Morphos eating banana

  

 Giant Swallowtail

Possibly Black Swallowtails

Blue Morpho.  The inside of the wings is much more colorful.

Exotic Butterflies 2

 Emerald Swallowtail and more beautiful butterflies

 Blue Morpho

 Anyone know what this striped orange butterfly is?

 Male Grecian Shoemaker

 Zebra Longwing

Female Grecian Shoemaker

 Blue Morpho

 Anyone know what butterfly or moth this is?

 Blue Cracker

Small Postman

Julia Longwing

Exotic Butterflies

Blue Morpho Butterfly and a few other interesting butterflies

Banded Orange

 Atala

 Julia Longwing

Leopard Lacewing

Costa Rica Clearwing

 A Blue Morpho hides the color inside.  It is not actually blue.  The color it reflects looks blue.

Does anyone know what this one is?

 Sara Longwing

 Malachite

Great Mormon

Eastern Tiger Swallowtail emerging from Chrysalis

Butterfly Exhibit

We went to Richmond recently and visited the Lewis Ginter garden butterfly exhibit.  I spent a lovely hour or so watching exotic butterflies. The exhibit was smaller than the exhibit at Brookside, near Wheaton MD, but they had a nice collection.  (They also have an incredible collection of orchids, with every color of the rainbow: green, yellow, red, pink, purple, white, etc.)

Here are my favorites butterfly photos.

      Blue Morpho

     Butterfly heaven

     Blue Morpho?

    Tiger Longwing?

     Blue Morpho

     Sara Longwing

     Clipper butterfly

SWARM Art Exhibit Reception May 20th

You are invited!  Please come to the opening reception for SWARM: Invasion of the Insects at Annmarie Gardens in Dowell MD Annmarie Sculpture Garden & Arts Center (13480 Dowell Road) near Solomon's.  I will be celebrating two of my butterfly photographs accepted into this juried art exhibition.  The reception will be held Friday, May 20th 6-9 pm.  ($5 for non-members).  You will learn the winning art works.  I've seen thumbnails of all of the art works, but don't know who are the winning artists.  If you miss the reception, the art will be on display until August 28th.

Photographing butterflies

I recently went to Brookside Gardens with Camera Club friends to visit the “Wings of Fancy” butterfly display in Wheaton, MD, a conservatory in the gardens. The butterflies were very active at 10 am, making it difficult to focus on a moving target. I just loved the blue morphos, which have spotted brown wings when closed and reflected blue wings when open. The butterflies often land on people, making it great fun, but you do have to be careful not to injure them. It is also a good idea to use a macro lens with flash or a telephoto lens to blur the background.

The free gardens are open at sunrise and there is a fee for the butterfly exhibit and special programs. The gardens are well worth a visit.