Tuesday, September 3, 2013

Shadows, spice and sweet



Yesterday we did our zoo walk.
As we were coming back over the bridge we noticed the great shadows that were being thrown through the fence. In looking at the patterns we saw I have to believe there was some thought in how the fence was made.
It cast wonderful patterns across the base of the water jars.
Then there is the water lady with these great polka-a-dots showing up on the base she is standing on.

 As you well know I am into all things butterfly.
I was with some friends last night and one of them works at the zoo. I was talking about the butterflies and she told me how to find the caterpillars for the Spicebush butterfly.
This morning I went straight over to a sassafras tree and looked for the folded over leaves.
I pulled one apart and- there it was!
I found about a dozen!

   My camera would not take a picture so I found this one the web.
They are the strangest looking things ever!
They look like this so that the things that want to eat them will think they are snakes.

Then, are you ready!???, I was walking in the door tonight after work and what do I see.
Yep!

There she is!
 A Spicebush butterfly.
Sweet!
Correction below! 
(Red-spotted Purple (Limenitis arthemis) is a polytypic species of North American brush-footed butterfly, common throughout much of the eastern United States. L. a. astyanax has red spots on its underside and the top of the wings are notable for their iridescent blue markings. 
The Red-spotted Purple is a mimic of the poisonous Pipevine Swallowtail (Battus philenor) and is typically found in open woodlands and along forest edges.)

They are not as easy to shoot as the other swallowtails that I have been following (stalking) this summer.
I was happy with this one shot that I did get.

We are working on glazing, getting there slowly and surely. 
M


8 comments:

smalltownme said...

Yes, those are nifty shadows.

Dennis Allen said...

Nice pictures

cookingwithgas said...

Thank you, I think they are well thought out, or a great happy accident.

ilyanna said...

Lovely photos. Thank you for sharing.

Schnee said...

Actually your butterfly is a Red Spotted Purple....it looks similar to a spicebush swallowtail, but they are a bit different. I've seen several of those red spotted purples this summer here in Maryland. They are gorgeous.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Limenitis_arthemis

The swallowtail would have tails off of both wings.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spicebush_swallowtail

I used to see spicebush swallowtail caterpillars when my parents had sasafras trees in their front yard. They're pretty cool looking.

Seems like everyone has been seeing lots of butterflies this year....I saw a group of 10 Eastern Tiger Swallowtail on a large thistle plant a few weeks ago....I thought they were goldfinches from a distance...LOL.

Tracey Broome said...

Thanks for taking us along on your walk! I love that so much thought was put into the shadows of the fence, thank goodness for people that think this way!

cookingwithgas said...

Thank you for the correction on the butterfly.
You are dead right.
I'll need to study more.

Tb, I know!

Michèle Hastings said...

Love those shadow photos!