Another One In 40,000,000 Butterfly Encounter

Posted December 27, 2019

Filed under Fritillary, Mt. Hermon, Israel

Scrolling down through our hundreds of Media Library images, I’m always amazed at how rare many of them are. Better yet is the acknowledgement that they are all . . . my images. Written arias? No. Climbed Mt. Everest? Been a lineman for the Pittsburgh Steelers? Became an US Army Ranger/Marine? Ended up a real estate billionaire? No to all.

Coped some valuable butterfly images? A resounding YES.

Here we are on a hot day (96F ?) on the peak of Israel’s Mt. Hermon, in the company of my guide, Eran. I knew that there were as many as 12 butterflies found there, that were not found anywhere else.

In flew this male Melitaea persea, and he is fresh! I made my patented approach, down on my stomach, and he complied, remaining in place, nectaring on these tiny blooms. I shot away. Few in the world have such images, few. Thus I enjoyed a Ralph Waldo Emerson Success experience.

Good.

Jeff

Handsome Northern Pearly Eye Butterfly?

Posted December 18, 2019

Filed under Pearly-Eye, Raccoon Creek State Park, PA

Northern Pearly Eye Butterfly at Raccoon Creek State Park

Me? I often enjoy reminiscing, enjoy meeting up again with images that please me. This morning I considered several, and this one came up the leader, an image that so reminds me of good, fruitful days.

Spying on a Northern Pearly-eye Butterfly basking in the early morning sunlight’s rays is a rarity. Approaching without him fleeing is even more unlikely, and copping a good image, before he flees? Near to impossible. Truth be told, I’ve seen few images of such.

His dorsal ‘eyes’ are vivid and brightly bordered by sweet yellow. The 4th hindwing eye can be seen on both hindwing. Wing surface detail is good and head and antennae look good too.

At Raccoon Creek State Park in southwestern Pennsylvania. Jeff loved that day.

Jeff

‘Mine Eyes Have Seen The Glory . . . ‘

Posted December 17, 2019

Filed under Harris Neck National Wildlife Refuge, GA, Swallowtail

Palamedes Swallowtail Butterfly on Thistle photographed by Jeff Zablow at Harris Neck National Wildlife Refuge, GA

This is what I want to be doing in fast approaching 2020. I want to gape. Gape at such incredible, extraordinary sights as this. Laura recommended our visit to Harris Neck National Wildlife Refuge, not far from the Georgia coast. The result?

Dozens? Yes I think so. Dozens of very special, memorable moments there, as this one, a very fresh Palmades Swallowtail butterfly on wetland thistle. Thistle at pond’s edge. ‘Gators as close as . . . ? Butterflies abundant and pollen/nectar dispensing flora everywhere.

Opening up our wingedbeauty Media Library, my eyes locked on this image. The ‘Glory’ I saw there, then? You choose the words.

Jeff

A Special Image From The HolyLand

Posted December 16, 2019

Filed under Hanita, Israel, Parnassian

Allancastria Cerisyi butterfly, photographed by Jeff Zablow in Hanita, Israel

These cold days are upon us, even though we reached 74 degrees Fahrenheit today in Eatonton, Georgia. A couple of hardy Cloudless Sulphur butterflies show themselves briefly, but this summers gangs of butterflies are absent.

Me? I fill this butterfly near vacuum with thoughts, thoughts of those amazing experiences I’ve enjoyed in the past.

He’s a fine male Allancastria Cerisyi seen several years ago near the village of Hanita, at the northeastern tip of Israel. I timed that trip to the HolyLand carefully. These rare, protected Parnassian butterflies fly briefly, fly only in April each year. They are only found near Hanita.

I stayed at the time with my family in Mishmarot, and drove my rental car to this area, at the Mediterranean Sea. I followed my map carefully, and . . . I found them!!

A special image this is for me, for only one in 10,000,000 Americans have ever seen A. Cerisyi. I enjoy dwelling on that, I do.

Jeff

Those Huge Texas Monarch Butterflies

Posted December 5, 2019

Filed under Monarch, National Butterfly Center, Mission, TX

Monarch Butterflies Coupled photographed by Jeff Zablow at the National Butterfly Center, Mission, TX

My recollection is that beginning with those empty lots in East Flatbush Brooklyn, they awaiting the inevitable construction of new homes, and continuing here in Georgia’s Piedmont region in 2019, I have seen some 2,867 Monarch butterflies. That includes Monarchs seen in New York state, New Jersey, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Maine, New Hampshire, Maryland, Virginia, West Virginia, Ohio, Arizona, North Carolina, South Carolina, Florida, Mississippi, Arizona, Missouri and Oklahoma.

When I saw this coupled pair of Monarchs, he was with wings spread, in the Perennial Gardens of the National Butterfly Center in Mission, Texas near the border wall. These two Monarchs were the largest Monarchs I’d ever seen. She flew onto this Lantana plant first, and moments later he flew to her, with much force, and they joined bodies.

I stood there, wondering why these Texas Danaus Plexxipus individuals were so much larger than any I’d ever seen before??

Jeff