Bees, butterflies, dragonflies and other little winged wonders can be real day brighteners.
I don't know what kind of pollinator is on the black-eyed Susan above, but it was an earnest little fuzz buzzer that caught my eye.
I've been cheering for mosquito-eating dragonflies since I was a small child. They not only have the most delicate and intricate wings, they're the most amazing aerial acrobats. They hover, fly backward, forward, dart, dive and actually eat their prey while hanging in the air.
I love the way sunlight makes the wings glitter and the veins are like stained glass leading around the colorful panes of transparent wing.
Piper and I saw this newly emerged monarch butterfly as we were finishing up an afternoon walk. It was so vibrant in its new colors and completely undamaged by any encounters with the world. I'm sure it will be well traveled by the time it finishes its migration flight, but no less majestic for that.
We took a Jeep ride (old 1966 vintage), complete with windshield down and no doors, of course, on the family property to celebrate my brother's birthday. We stopped to admire some giant swallowtail butterflies in the thistle patch.
They hardly ever stop fluttering and it's really hard to get a good picture. I did manage to get a couple clear shots out of the dozens I took - most were blurry to one degree or another. The patterns on these butterflies are beautiful. The tiny teardrops on the ends of the tails and the colorful orange and blue markings at the base of its abdomen are striking details in an already intricate series of wing markings.
