Cyaniris Antiochena, a Tiny Blue Butterfly, Flew into Wildflowers on a Primitive Trail

Posted March 12, 2021

How exciting is it to find a rare HolyLand (Israel) butterfly? Answer: Very. How much more exciting is it to find such a rare butterfly Without the aid of a guide? Answer: Crazy much more exciting! Have you scoured remote. distant and rarely visited locales?

This is such. I was on a 5 day trip up to the north of Israel, to the uppermost Golan region, north of Capernum. Remember the fascination of Capernum when you were in Sunday school? The only folks I saw those days were soldiers, that’s how remote it was. The borders with Syria and Jordan were about a 30-minute drive, and a kid from Brooklyn never loses sight of that.

This tiny blue butterfly, Cyaniris Antiochena flew in to wildflowers on the primitive trail I was working, and I of course, shot away. Here’s the best of those exposures. Rare tiny blues in wild, wild northern Israel.

I would’ve loved to have been there with you, but OK.

Jeff

Free Flying Happiness On the Peak of the HolyLand

Posted July 20, 2020

Filed under Mt. Hermon, Israel

Jeff Zablow on Peak of Mt. Hermon Israel

This is an image of Sheer Happiness. Where? I’m on the peak of Mt. Hermon, at the northeastern corner of the HOLYLAND/Israel. Mentioned in the Old Testament more than once, I am standing on an ageless mountain crest,. Behind me you see more of Mt. Hermon’s top, not 100 feet but many miles of mountaintop. Beyond that? Lebanon. A country once proud and prosperous, now overtaken by devilish Hezbollah.

That smile? It was June 2008. Frieda A”H Z”L had passed in January, after an almost 8 year struggle. The last year of her life I was her Caregiver. I cooked and did all, for Frieda, who until the onslaught of Non-Hodgkins Lymphoma, cooked, baked, cleaned, sewed, knit . . . did it all, in the European-Polish traditional manner. Our 4 children all excelled. We sat at graduations at America’s fine universities.

Me the street kid from Brooklyn (forget the glasses and such, I fought, much) who survived knives, guns and such, who graduated from OCS a newly minted artillery officer, Dean in a New York City High School who took guns, knives, chukka sticks, pipes from HS guys, had to watch helplessly as Frieda slowly weakened. Helplessly.

Frieda always told me to do what makes me Happy! She knew that photographing butterflies? I loved doing that!! She urged me to go and shoot, even when I was caregiving that last year. She’d say go, ‘Don’t worry about me.’ I went, and always rushed home after.

So here I am on this ancient G-d Loved mountaintop. Eran Banker, my guide took this pic. I am where I dreamed of, the peak of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, the peak that Moses must have seen but never visited. We found, and I photographed many, many very rare butterflies. It was maybe 94F or 96F up there, desert-like, no wind . . . SPECTACULAR.

I was finally Happy again, I knew real Love, and it was as if She told me to be right there. To Smile. To Appreciate having survived poverty, the Streets, carrying long steel, and the Love of a Good Woman and to Reflect on being the Father of 4 Healthy, Happy capable children.

I surely must have been remembering Ralph Waldo Emerson’s Success.

This pic, for me? Priceless. A Thank G-d Moment.

Jeff

Upon Meeting A Rare HolyLand Mt. Hermon Fritillary

Posted July 1, 2020

Filed under Fritillary, Mt. Hermon, Israel

Butterflies have so enriched my life, so bolstered me when I needed reassurance that I was who I wanted to be. Frieda’s Passing A”H, betrayal in business, enduring many life threatening situations, serving as an artillery officer when ‘Nam got boiling hot, raising children of much accomplishment . . . so much happened, and these last decades found a way to continue to be me, the street kid from Brooklyn whom few have understood, truth be told. It’s difficult to bring folks to understand who you are, isn’t it?

Searching for butterflies is a joy for me, and, when I find very rare butterflies, on difficult to work mountain tops, that joy is sweet, so very sweet. That’s how it was when I met this fritillary butterfly. I was on the peak of Mt. Hermon, a biblical mountaintop at the very northern border of Israel.

I went there knowing that more than 12 butterflies were found only on Mt. Hermon. I knew that fritillaries were among those preciously rare butterfly species. When Eran and I found this fresh Melitaea Persia montium, I was so so so excited. I just knew that we’d found a butterfly that few had ever seen, it flying only on the peak of this 7,000 foot mountain.

The late morning heat was burning (at least 93 in full Middle Eastern sun, the Hermon peak with desert like humidity), other butterflies had been very difficult to approach, that land mine that Eran found, in an area I was heading toward and the realization, gnawing in my mind, that this could be my one and only trip here for a long time (lifetime?) . . . all caused me to SOOOO plead with G-d that this OMG! butterfly enable/allow me to score images of it.

Today? I checked again and Google continues to include this image, when you or any of the world’s 6.9 Billion folks Google M. Persia Montium. That lites my fire. Yes it does.

Jeff

Plebejus Eurypilus Euaemon (Protected) (Israel)

Posted January 14, 2014

Filed under Blues, Mt. Hermon, Israel

Every minute was precious. On the peak of Mt. Hermon in Israel. My guide, Eran Banker, and I were alone up there, though we later met a German birder and his Israeli guide on our way down from the mountain. Turn here, turn there, no matter which way we turned, butterflies I had never seen before. Nirvana. Jeff in the candy store, ogling the mouth watering choices, this time, with the coin to select and savor.

2008 on the mountain. I said it again. One of those days I will never forget. The kid from Brooklyn, who usually had no coin in his pockets, was now the photographer of butterflies on Hermon. Success by Ralph Waldo Emerson came to mind. Surrounded by beauty, appreciating the beauty and soon sharing that beauty with our followers in 83 countries around the world (The Peoples Republic of China, with its 1.3 billion people, remains still out of range, with not 1 visit in our 2.5 years).

Rare, endangered and elusive butterflies here, then there, then over there. The sky was crystal clear blue, there was only a slight breeze . . . and it was hot, very hot. Eran lugged several liter bottles of water, and we drank often.

Our protected blue here flew to this rock to rest, serendipity! My approach was slow . . . and successful. This blue butterfly flies from May to July. Limited to Mt. Hermon and its slopes. Here you find another example of my sometimes overly positive thinking. Sure I have this image, and it is rare, but won’t I score a better one in ’09 or ’11? So what happened? My next chance to go to the top came in ’12 . . . and it was March and the mountain was covered in snow. No problem, I’ll go up in ’13. ’13 comes, I arrange to go to the peak . . . and War! War! on the Syrian side of the mountain.

I don’t know how many others have photographed this male, but here’s mine. See the missing piece of the left hindwing. Look carefully and you’ll note that the right upper wing surface shows some orange. That helped me determine which of the blues this is.

Jeff