08/04/25

 Happy Monday and happy new week!  I thought I would start off the week with a lovely butterfly I was able to capture on my Coneflowers/Echinacea not long ago.  This is a female Black Swallowtail.  I have seen a good amount of Swallowtails around this year and Skippers but, unfortunately, not many others.  I do see a Monarch every now and then, hope to see more before the summer is over.

06/30/25

 Happy Monday, happy new week and happy last day of June.  My goodness the summer is going quickly.  I have had a few opportunities recently for butterfly images.  They have not been as plentiful as I would like, no sign of Painted Ladies yet.  This is a female Black Swallowtail on my Butterfly Milkweed that I was able to capture last weekend.

03/27/25

 Today's image is of one of the few large butterflies I was able to see and capture this past summer.  This is a Black Swallowtail that was visiting the Bee Balm.  It is the female of the species.

06/28/24

 Happy Friday, TGIF!  I have been able to se several large types of butterflies this Spring/early summer.  I captured this male Black Swallowtail that was enjoying my Butterfly Milkweed recently.  I chose this image for today due to the lovely bubbly bokeh because Friday's Are Bokehlicious!

2/3/22

 We are experiencing actual winter again so my thoughts are going to warmer days.  I captured this Black Swallowtail enjoying one of my Teasel's this past summer.

8/27/21

 It's Friday, TGIF!  I have had a few large butterflies around lately which has been nice.  This Black Swallowtail male was visiting my Butterfly Milkweed plant last week.  One of it's tail wings was a bit scraggly but it seemed to be making it around just fine even though.  Friday's Are Bokehlicious so this photo was chosen for the lovely bokeh behind created by other plants.

7/23/21

 TGIF!  It's Friday and Friday's Are Bokehlicious.  Today's photo with some nice bokeh is of a Black Swallowtail butterfly that I captured recently on my Teasel flowers.  The leaves from the trees and grass behind made for some lovely bokeh for this image to set off the butterfly.

1/15/21

 Last summer, large butterflies like Swallowtails seemed to be a more common sight for me which was enjoyable but unusual.  This is a Black Swallowtail female on a bloom of my Butterfly Milkweed, which is not a weed at all but a native wildflower, in the garden.  I chose this image for today due to the bokeh created by the Milkweed because it's Friday and Friday's Are Bokehlicious!

12/11/20

 I had transplanted some Common Milkweed a few years ago when they were doing the road construction in my area.  Milkweed doesn't usually transplant well so I was pleased that I was able to keep it alive and that it comes back each year.  I have yet to see a Monarch on it but this Black Swallowtail was sure enjoying it one day this summer.  The other flowers were making the bokeh for this shot and it's Friday and Friday's Are Bokehlicious!

7/24/20

It's Friday and Fridays Are Bokehlicious!  Today's butterfly with some lovely bokeh behind it is a female Black Swallowtail enjoying a Teasel flower in my garden.  As you can see from the last couple of days pictures, wildflowers are a great attracter of  various types of nature and allow for great photo taking material.  They are usually busy feeding so you can get an image of them somewhat easier than other times.  A zoom lens works best so you don't have to get too close to them and scare them off.  Plus, the zoom then creates the nice bokeh background because your subject is in focus but the background is not.

7/2/20

I have to share a butterfly every week these days because they make me happy as well and I have been fortunate to see a good number of them this year.  I captured this one on my Butterfly Milkweed about a week ago or so.  This is a female Black Swallowtail.

6/19/20

We made it to Friday and Friday's Are Bokehlicious!  There isn't as much bokeh in this one as usual but I had to share a butterfly image today.  I captured this female Black Swallowtail enjoying the Common Milkweed plant I was able to transplant and keep alive.  It actually stayed around long enough for several images.  I liked this one with it's wings spread nicely to show off the details.  Some of the Milkweed blooms are providing some nice bokeh.

4/30/20

The first butterfly I was able to photograph this year was this Black Swallowtail.  I was only able to capture it in some grass and it was fairly boring so I decided to play around with it and this is the result.  

11/7/19

There were not many butterflies around this autumn.  Maybe they knew the early cold was coming and headed out faster than usual.  I stopped seeing larger ones in late September.  I still have to share some butterfly shots every now and then. This is an older image of a lovely Black Swallowtail visiting a Zinnia flower. 

7/30/19

I have now been starting to see lots more butterflies around.  It has mostly been smaller ones like Skippers and Painted ladies but over the weekend I saw several Swallowtails.  This is a male Black Swallowtail on the Budhelia or Butterfly bush.

9/14/18

I have been lucky to have several Swallowtails visiting my garden this past summer.  I have planted several varieties of things to entice butterflies to the garden.  I always find it funny that the thing they really seem to enjoy are the Zinnias, that's where I almost always seem to find them until the Sedum starts to bloom.  Here is a female Black Swallowtail enjoying one.

7/28/16

So I finally saw my first Monarch butterfly around my house that was sitting on a flower the other day but before I could get a photo of it a stupid wasp chased it away.  Ugh.  So my photo today is another from the Milford Lake Nature Center.  I captured this lovely male Black Swallowtail butterfly sitting on a Cone flower.

12/27/15

Winter is on it's way today.  We are looking at highs in only the 20F for the rest of the week.  I knew it was coming but not looking forward to it.  So, of course, I am dreaming of Spring.  This is an image of a Swallowtail Butterfly on my Lilac one spring.  I wish Lilacs lasted longer, they are great butterfly magnets and they smell so wonderful.  I believe this is a Black Swallowtail which are supposed to be the most numerous in Kansas.