Eight days in Texas, Mission, Texas. What a cavalcade of butterflies greeted me at the National Butterfly Center! At Bensten State Park and at the nearby, much celebrated ‘Wall.’ Imagine, December 21st through December 27th, and yet, we were seeing so, so many butterflies. One of those days saw the thermometer rise to 80F?

I can’t tell you how many different Hairstreaks we saw, I saw. Many fled before I could grab an image. So many of those AWOL hairstreaks were rare, and all were new to me. I did cache some really special exposures, among them Gold-bordered hairstreak and Tropical greenstreak. Very soon, I will have those scanned, and want you to see them when I do. I fly to Southern Texas, in the last week of December, and am greeted with gorgeous, rare Hairstreaks. Neat, Huh?

All that led me to thinking of HolyLand hairstreaks. This beaut, found on Mt. Meron, in the Upper Galilee, is Strymonidia spini melantho. She, as some hairstreaks do, ‘posed’ for me, as she methodically nectared.

It just reminds me how Thankful I am that, me and my Macro- (100mm/2.8) Canon lens have made so many successful approaches, and enjoyed as many good-enough hairstreak images, as we have scored.

Jeff