... Close up and personal

Early blip for me today (which means that a rare bird will no doubt come by the back yard later today - perhaps a California Condor or something like that.) We are going to spend the afternoon working on the the butterfly/bird garden for next summer - need to finish the retaining wall, add the dirt, and then start planing. I am already looking forward to next summer!

I was out on the patio today and decided to try to get some shots of a slighty cabbage white butterflyl ratty Even thought they are common all summer, they are a bit hard to photograph because they rarely land anywhere - and then, of course, there is all that white to mess up the exposure! I even set my tripod up to try to get some better shots. And, in fact, I got some pretty decent shots of cabbage white.

But then, I turned around saw a painted lady with wings fully openso I whipped the camera off the tripod and took some hand-held shots at full zoom. I was all set to post this one because it is so unusual to find a painted lady sitting with their wings open like this. But then, as is often the case, when I got the images up on my screen I found that I liked this close up of the face even better. So there you have it!

I also took a couple of backyard bird shots from the deck... a disheveled titmouse and an irrepressible chickadee, waiting his turn for the feeder.

We are off to NYC tomorrow, so I may post something from there tomorrow evening. In the meantime, have a great Saturday!