Whatever Weds. Butterflies

Posted in Butterflies, Fuji X-T3, Nature, Photography, WildflowersTagged , , , , ,

Copyright ©2021 Deborah M. Zajac. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

A friend came up for the week-end and we birded, and admired wildflowers, and hiked. He-Man even joined us on the longest hike which was just over 6 miles, and we climbed 640ft in the Eastern Sierras.

We also had the pleasure of seeing several butterflies. Here are two.

I think this is a Fritillary maybe a Meadow Fritillary? If you know what it is I’d love to know for sure.

Fritillary? Wildflower?

This one I was able to identify as the Western White Butterfly.

Western White Butterfly

This one is a first for me!

The wildflowers in the high country are in full bloom and gorgeous, and I’ve picked up a few new to me birds! I’ll be sharing those in future posts…after I have nailed down their identities. I’m still not quite certain on two of them.

Merlin my bird app isn’t giving me a definitive answer so, I’m still trying to figure them out.

The smoke here seems to get better, then it gets worse. The Tamarack Fire is still burning and when I last checked it was still 0% contained and the winds in the afternoon have been very gusty not helping the fire crews at. all!

I am hopeful that fire crews will be able to get it under control sooner rather than later.

That’s about it from here. I hope your week is going well.

Fuji X-T3| Fuji 100-400mm| PS CC 22.4.2

more to come…

62 thoughts on “Whatever Weds. Butterflies”

  3. What a treat for me to have almost missed. Your butterfly photos stirred my sense of whimsy, Deborah. The first one is particularly beautiful. Either would make a lovely book cover.
    I hope the Tamarack Fire has been contained. Fires are so frightening.
    Hugs on the wing!

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  4. Thanks for sharing these butterfly pictures. Our dear Dina is photographing butterflies now as well. In our “Mecca of Birdwatching” most of the birdwatcher go butterfly and moth watching in summer.
    Dina waited today a long, long time on our picturesk grave yard for a butterfly sitting down relaxed on an old gravestone – all in vain.
    Thanks and cheers
    The Fab Four of Cley
    🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂

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  6. Your photos of the two butterflies and their surrounding flora are beautiful, Deborah. I liked hearing about your adventure in the Eastern Sierras. I had been wondering about that particular fire and the containment, and was sad to hear it’s still 0%. Looking forward to seeing the birds and lifers you spotted too. Thanks for sharing your adventure.

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    1. Thank you so much, Jet! Oh, I read the Tamarack Fire was 4% contained which isn’t much at all. The afternoon Washoe Zephyr wind isn’t helping either. The air quality is awful. We’re praying for the firefighters, and those who have been evacuated.

      Ah, well, regarding the birds, there is a slight disappoint with one of the birds I thought was a lifer. It turns out it’s a young Yellow Rump Warbler…so not really a lifer, but now I know what they look like young! 😂 I do have two birds to share that are new to me though.

      I hope you and Athena have a lovely week!

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  8. Lovely pictures – they are not at all easy. I tried to take some of butterflies I saw yesterday and missed them all. I’ve been very sorry to read about the fires and that the smoke is affecting your air quality. We live in a scary world.

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    1. Thank you so much!! I hope you keep trying to get some nice images of the Butterflies where you are! I find the mornings the best because they’ll still land and try to warm up. Once they’re warmed up they don’t land as very much.

      Yesterday afternoon we had a blue sky and better air quality! It had been days and days since we’ve had either!

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  11. Hi Deborah, I think the flower with the Yellow Butterfly is Mountain Pennyroyal, or Mountain Mint. I think the second flower is a Thistle, California Thistle. Beautiful pictures. Let me know how the Bird hike goes tomorrow! Jarlath

    On Wed, Jul 21, 2021 at 4:45 AM Circadianreflections Blog wrote:

    > circadianreflections posted: ” Copyright ©2021 Deborah M. Zajac. ALL > RIGHTS RESERVED A friend came up for the week-end and we birded, and > admired wildflowers, and hiked. He-Man even joined us on the longest hike > which was just over 6 miles, and we climbed 640ft in the Eastern Sie” >

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    1. I wonder the same, and when I discover that there are the same species in places far, far from me I am amazed and wonder how they got there or here…by boat, plane, or the wind, or the break up of land masses ages ago perhaps? 😀

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      1. In the case of the two butterflies you showed here, I don’t know that Austin has the same ones, just similar. In other instances I’ve been surprised that the same species occurs far apart. For example, the red admiral is found in Europe as well as Texas.

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    1. Thank you, Belinda! Another year of forest fires…it’s frustrating that in the 21 century good forest management is still such a hard thing to do. Cleaning out dead and dying trees from the floor and forest seems like a good thing to reinstate. Don’t get me started on this soap box! You take care up there too! 🥰

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  14. Oh dear Deborah, I do hope you are safe there. We had half a year of thick smoke here last year with our horrific fires, worst in history, yours sound terrible also with so many blazing it it did for us. We have one of our fire fighting planes on its way there now. People here are still recovering from the effects of the thick smoke and devastation caused by the fires, we lost sooo much forest and wildlife, so many birds never returned this year, but the Aussie forest is rejuvenating. Loved your butterflies they are so pretty, we do not see many nice ones here, just the Cabbage White which infects our herbs and veges with its eggs. The pretties and largest are in Far North Queensland. We will be praying for protection for your safety as well as your home at this time my friend

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    1. Thank you, Ashley! So far we’re alright! It’s been a bit nuts this July with earthquakes and fires, but we’re okay and prepared to bug out if we have to.

      We have the Cabbage White as well. It gets around doesn’t it? 😀

      You two take care as well, and I hope your lockdown ends soon!

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      1. Oh, that’s a nice site! Thank you Sheila!! I have a different one bookmarked, but have now bookmarked this one. I plugged in the shape and right on the first page was the Great Spangled Fritillary and I do believe that’s the one I was seeing up in the high country!! Merci une mille fois!!

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  18. Two lovely butterflies, the first is defo a fritillary we have a few frits in the UK and they are gorgeous. The name fritillary comes from Latin for a dice box due to the spotting. Aren’t I full of useless, I mean useful info 😁

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  19. Beautiful butterflies indeed but the fire situation isn’t not at all beautiful but quite scary. I don’t think we’ve had much smoke here but we’re off to Wyoming very soon and there may be some there. How else could it get to the east coast without passing Wyoming? Praying for the safety of all fighting the first, all in the area of the fires, that the fires don’t destroy any more homes, and that no lives are lost!

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      1. I think we’ll be dealing with some smoke there also but I’m looking forward to it so much. I imagine I’ll have a few photos to share when I get back. As for the hike, one of these days I hope to make it with you.

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  20. Beautiful photos and lovely subjects. I really like seeing butterflies. I’m glad you have been able to get out and hike. New birds, new butterflies – sounds like productive outings all around.

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      1. We have smoke from the Bootleg fire in Oregon showing up here. We thought it was haze from all the rain, but they ran articles yesterday warning people with allergies and asthma that it’s smoke.

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    1. Thank you so much, Ally! Us too about being concerned. The fire is creeping closer to our valley, and has already distroyed so many acres and structures. We’re keeping our eyes and ears open. I have things we need to go ready to grab if we need to bug out. We had that scare earlier this summer. I hope it doesn’t come to that though!

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