David's Images of the Day Photoblog
Morning walkabout in the yard with a macro and telephoto lens. Flowers, wildflowers, black swallowtail butterfly, and the immature American Goldfinch that has been pulling the petals off the Zinnia flowers.
I’m back from a 10-day trip to Germany. It was hot and dry in Germany, but apparently hot and wet in New Jersey. The grass needs to be mowed, the weeds need to be pulled, and the patio garden cleaned up. Some of the tomatoes are ripe, but others rotted. The tomato leaves are turning yellow (too much water, or need nitrogen fertilizer?). Several of the hot peppers are bright red and ready to be picked. There was one remaining yellow squash, and two white eggplants. The wildflower garden continues to attract butterflies and bees. This was the first female black swallowtail butterfly that I have seen this season. A bumblebee was pollinating the basil flowers. There were several Monarch butterflies feeding on the zinnia wildflowers. I also made a quick trip to the local weekly farmers market. It is smaller than the daily markets I saw at several public squares in Germany.
Black Swallowtail Butterfly Feeding on a Thistle Flower, and Small Bugs on a Queen Anne’s Lace Flower both at the Images taken with a Nikon D700 camera and 28-300 mm VR lens.
Prairie Wildflowers and Butterflies at an Interstate Rest Area in Iowa. Images taken with a Nikon D3s camera and 24 mm f/1.4 lens or a Nikon D3x camera and 80-400 mm VR lens.
Click on the above image to access the individual images in the slideshow.
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.
