Fritillary photobombing a Two-tailed Swallowtail butterfly
Last week I photographed a fritillary butterfly photobomb a Two-tailed Swallowtail butterfly as it nectared on a Showy Milkweed high in the Wasatch Mountains.
Last week I photographed a fritillary butterfly photobomb a Two-tailed Swallowtail butterfly as it nectared on a Showy Milkweed high in the Wasatch Mountains.
When I returned home and could view my images on a large screen I was able to identify this swallowtail butterfly as a male Two-tailed Swallowtail.
On a recent trip to the West Desert sky island mountains in Tooele County I found my lens pointed at trees, shrubs, wildflowers and a butterfly.
A while back I came across some butterfly photos that I had taken on July 19, 2015 that I hadn't processed or identified so recently I went about finding out what species of butterfly I had photographed.
Last week I was able to photograph Weidemeyer's Admiral butterflies up in the Wasatch Mountains on two consecutive days and the butterflies had me all aflutter.
I'm always happy to photograph "other things with wings" when I am out in the field so last week when I spotted my first of year Monarch butterfly I had to take a few photos of it.
I'd forgotten about this Painted Lady butterfly I photographed in August of 2017 that I found while photographing hummingbirds on Antelope Island State Park.
Last year I saw an abundance of Great Spangled Fritillary butterflies in the Wasatch Mountains, it seemed that I could easily spot them flitting about or nectaring on thistles but this year I noticed that these and the numbers of other species of butterflies are way down in numbers
I missed out on photographing Showy Milkweed in bloom in the lower elevations of northern Utah but not at the higher elevations of the Wasatch Mountains.
I'm confident in my North American bird ID abilities but when it comes to Fritillary butterfly species ID in the Wasatch Mountains I feel stymied a lot of the time.
While I photographed male Broad-tailed Hummingbirds a few days ago in the West Desert I also took a few moments to photograph some of the butterflies nectaring on the blooms of the Wax Currant bush which included Red Admiral butterflies.
This Mourning Cloak butterfly I photographed five days ago not far from where I photographed the Painted Lady was also nectaring on Fragrant Sumac and it too looked a bit worn because they are a migratory butterfly species as well.
I saw plenty of Western Branded Skipper butterflies nectaring on blooming rabbitbrush in both the canyons I explored yesterday morning and I can't resist, nor do I want to, photographing wildflowers and butterflies.
I was photographing birds when I spotted a hairstreak butterfly land right in front of me and took some images of it, I didn't know at the time it was a Colorado Hairstreak butterfly, I found that out later after I got home.
Last year I found plenty of Monarch Butterflies on the Rocky Mountain Bee Plants on Antelope Island and they were a delight to photograph as they fluttered around going from flower to flower sipping nectar from the delicate blossoms.
Last week while I was up in a canyon in the Wasatch Mountains I spotted a female Great Spangled Fritillary butterfly nectaring on a Musk Thistle so I felt I had to take photos of she sipped the nectar of the flower.
I'm going to ask for help later on today from bugguide.net with the identification of this fritillary butterfly. I don't normally have to ask for identification assistance but I need it for this other thing with wings.
Showy Milkweeds are an important source of nectar for butterflies, especially Monarch Butterflies who not only use them as a nectar source but also use them for laying their eggs on and as a larval host.
This is a Common Checkered-Skipper and can be found in most of the U.S., some southern parts of Canada and northern Mexico.
Photographing birds while they are flying can be challenging and photographing Monarch Butterflies in flight can be just as challenging to do too.
Rocky Mountain Bee Plants are blooming all over the Salt Lake Valley right now and those beautiful, spider-like flowers are attracting hummingbirds, moths, butterflies, bees and a host of insects.