CWilbur, 16 days ago

More pics.

Ringlet
Marine Blue
Sara Orangetip.

CWilbur, 16 days ago

Today’s #butterflies Part deux. These are all hilltoppers.

West Coast Lady resting briefly between engagements. Lost a few bits of wing.
Painted Lady rests open-winged on the ground. Though fading in color, this one’s wings are still largely intact.
On the other hand, this Red Admiral has seen better days. As you can see, it’s still flying.

CWilbur, 16 days ago

Today’s #butterflies Part 3. Yes there was a Gray Hairstreak. Possibly more than one. But it was really hard to photograph.

Another shot of our Gray Hairstreak, resting briefly on his Sagebrush bud.
From the top, even though out of focus you can clearly see he’s lost one of his hindwing orange patches. Battle damage.
What looks to be an American Lady, perched in a Buckwheat blossom patch.

perfect_brains, 16 days ago

@CWilbur

use the fastest shutter speed

CWilbur, 16 days ago

@perfect_brains It's my phone cam. I can do slo-mo, but that doesn't solve the focus issue. Supposedly you can put your finger on the place you want to focus on, but the phone seems to insist on the background in critical moments. The butterbirds like to perch on lone sticks, where nothing else is in the immediate vicinity that could affect focus.
I'm not yet ready to incorporate an actual SLR. For the time being it's too much weight and, frankly, too slow to respond when the flier is right there.

CWilbur, 16 days ago

Annnnnnd…. Today’s #butterflies part 4 - the movie!

The battle of the tinies. Small butterflies wage a pitched and seemingly never-ending battle for control of the hilltop. Several species join the fray, including hairstreaks, ladies, blues, admirals and swallowtail. Also duskywings when they’re around.