Friday (12-August-2016) — New Jersey

Summertime Nature at the Sourland Mountain Preserve.

When I  reviewed my older images for 12-August, I found that most are  of butterflies at the Sourland Mountain Preserve.  I am starting to feel a bit stronger after my bout with Lyme disease, so this morning I decided to check the Sourland Mountain Preserve out again. While taking the antibiotic for Lyme disease, I am not supposed to spend much time in the sun. So I put on a lot of sunscreen and a bunch of DEET. I took a Fuji X-T1 camera and the 100-400 mm OIS lens. This kit is a lot lighter than the ones that I have used in the past while visiting the Sourland Mountain Preserve. It doesn’t focus as fast, but neither did the original Nikon D2xs camera and 80-400 mm lens. The morning trip was successful. Many good images of Butterflies (Tiger Swallowtail, Black Swallowtail, Great Spangled Fritillary, and White Cabbage), Dragonflies, and a Dog-Day Cicada. No Monarch Butterflies, and no Hummingbird Clearwing Moths. This is the first time I got a picture of a live cicada. In the past, I only have pictures of the exoskeleton or larva. The Cicadas were making a lot of noise . These are not the 17-year versions of Cicadas (not a peak year).

Swallowtail Butterflies. Click on the above image to access the individual images in the slideshow.

Great Spangled Fritillary Butterfly. Click on the above image to access the individual images in the slideshow.

Dragonflies. Click on the above image to access the individual images in the slideshow.