David's Images of the Day Photoblog
First sighting of a Clearwing Hummingbird Moth this year. Last year I saw them on the Rhododendron flowers, but those shrubs were damaged by snow and early spring storms. This year they appear to like the same Zinnia blooms that have also attracted a Monarch Butterfly. They also like the Wild Bergamot flowers. Individual images in the slide show can be viewed here.
My first Monarch Butterfly of the season. I am glad I planted this small section of wildflowers right next to the house, as the other sections have been devastated by “mile-a-minute” vine and deer. The deer like to munch on the plants before the flowers can bloom. I am going to have to go back to an electric fence. As soon as I saw the Monarch Butterfly, I ran back inside and grabbed the first camera I could find with a telephoto zoom lens. When I see more, I will come back with a macro lens.
At this time of the year, the dawn clouds don’t seem to be as impressive. Dawn is earlier (before 05:30) so I might miss them, and the sun is further north so some of the colorful clouds may be hidden behind the trees to the north-east. During the day I spent some time with a new camera/lens combo (Nikon D850 camera and 70-300 mm AF-P lens) doing a flower/wildflower walkabout. It is an interesting combo. Individual images from the slides hows can be viewed here.
Morning and afternoon walkabouts with a Fuji X-H1 camera and 80 mm f/2.8 macro lens. The afternoon set was after a thunderstorm leaving some of the flowers wet. I am really liking this lens. One note, when the lens is out of the camera, or attached to the camera when the camera is off there is an internal part of the lens that slides back-and-forth making a knocking noise. When the camera is powered on this does not happen. I have seen reports on the internet, but have been told that it is not a problem. Now that the Fuji X-H1 and X-T2 cameras have firmware updates that will allow the camera to do focus bracketing. I look forward to trying focus bracketing with this lens.
Daily walkabout looking for flowers. Daisy, Baby’s Breath, Red Poppy, California Poppy, Cosmos (notice the spider), Zinnia, etc.
