I play favorites - don't you? As a sampling, I favor butterflies over flies, adults over larvae, flowers over foliage, and oaks over hackberries. Taken even further, I typically have a favorite "side" of a butterfly.
Hackberry emperors aren't particularly flashy on either side, but the blue spots on the ventral view are really worth a second look.
In contrast, there's the Sleepy orange sulphur (Abaeis nicippe). I've been trying like crazy to catch a good photo of my own to share with you of the dorsal view of the wings but so far no luck. My decent images are all only of the ventral view.
These butterflies have erratic flight patterns and in my experience always fold their wings while feeding. I tried to discern any particular predictability to their takeoffs, but nope. Honestly, the way these butterflies travel reminds me of the way Charles Schultz used to draw Woodstock in flight - using a broken line traveling in loops and swoops.
So far this blurry image partly exiting the frame is the closest I've come. Not even close.
I'm finding my preferences shifting in surprising ways the more time I spend looking. Not all flies are created equal. Some of them are striking no matter their lifestyle preferences.
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| Condylostylus (male). |
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| Condylostylus (female). |
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| Green bottle fly (Calliphoridae) on Possumhaw |
Once I've gotten more than one good image of a species, I up the ante and look to find them in what I think of as "double occupancy" shots.
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Carpenter bee and unknown snout nosed moth.
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Really, even larvae have their moments. Some of them are real eye catchers. If I want to see more of the moths and butterflies I'm so attracted to I'll have to continue to develop a heightened appreciation for their precursor forms. It's getting easier.
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| Eight spotted forester moth caterpillar. |
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| Gulf fritillary caterpillars feasting on maypop vine. |
There seems to be at least one holdout in all this appreciating so far. Try as I might, I still just get the willies whenever I see one of these, abandoned or not.
In the abstract at least, I do appreciate the symmetry and pattern in these paperwasp nests. In reality? I'll probably continue to eradicate these anywhere near the house I find them. When it comes to loving all nature has to offer, I'll just have to consider myself a work in progress.
