holy cow! | Winged Beauty Butterflies

Northern Metalmark Butterfly on Oxe-eye Daisy photographed by Jeff Zablow at Lynx Prairie, OH

That day again in June 2017, when after lingering a bit too long at something that caught my eye, I found myself Totally Separated from the small group I was part of. Descending into a mood I am not now proud of, I called for a quorum of experts, and me, myself and I fulfilled that call. We (all the I’s) concluded that I was ditched by the group, and an unfortunately ‘bad’ word or two was uttered. That silly business over with, I decided, What the Heck! I’m always alone on trails, naturally, so go ahead into Kamama Prairie Preserve (privately held land) and make the best of it.

Make the best of it?? It turned from silly drama (mine alone) to Holy Cow! I took the trail around the perimeter of this goodly sized prairie, and spotted a Northern metalmark butterfly. The day before, nearby, in Lynx Prairie, I had seen my first ever Northern. This new day, a second, now a third . . . until I had seen way more than 40, and stopped counting. A sizable flight of these tiny artworks, some nectaring, others resting upon broad leaves, some in the verge near the forest edge, others in the open prairie.

This Northern is at rest upon a prairie daisy. They are so tiny, and prefer being close to the ground, that my Macro- lens work demands that I stoop way down to the ground. Avoiding camera sway was constant, but this time, my New ISM lens was there to enable some fair images to be captured.

I sure did get some share of those nifty ‘metallic’ lines that parallel one another, along the outer margins of forewings and hindwing.

Later I found the group, kept telling myself (internally) to not mention the regrettable thoughts I had earlier, and so restrained, learned that they did . . . not see more than a couple of this winged beauties. Jeff, still growing up.

Adams County, southernmost Ohio.

Jeff

Tawny Hackberry butterfly photographed by Jeff Zablow at Raccoon Creek State Park, PA

Jim Gilreath today posted an exceptional image of a Giant swallowtail butterfly. It was shot in the Butterfly & Blooms Briar Patch in Eatonton, Georgia. The same Briar Patch Habitat that I have visited several times this year. You can see Jim’s photo on the Butterfly & Blooms in the Briar Patch Facebook page. A stunner it is.

Certain to catch your eye is the apparent oversize of the Giant’s wings. They look well, too big for the butterfly, too big to control, to coordinate, too big for successful flight.

That brought me to remember this image, of a Tawny Emperor butterfly, I happened onto in Raccoon Creek State Park in southwestern Pennsylvania, my home. As I was both marveling at its stately beauty, and shooting away, this angle, that angle, this shutter speed, bracketing that shutter speed . . . I was thinking, Holy Cow! those wings look way too big for this butterfly to fly with. After it tolerated dozens of exposures early, early that morning, it answered my query, when it zoooomed away, in a straight, high speed trajectory, Gone!

I think Jim’s Giant swallowtail does have outsized wings, and I think this Tawny emperor’s wings are also oversize. How, with Big, Big wings, do they fly so well, so fast, so directed, so gracefully? Is their extraordinary flight meant as a gift to us, to tease and tantalize our senses?

Oh and this print, dark room processed by Gerry Hare, and archivally matted and framed, hangs in our dining room, for all to see, for me to enjoy, daily. Another original print, that too printed by this master, Mr. Hare, hangs in a home in Georgia. Both mats include cut-outs, with a scholar’s original calligraphy in Hebrew, roughly translated, ‘How Great Are Your [G-d’s] Works.’

Jeff