Crispy Yellowness

A teaser from one of the San Antonio news stations last night about Monarch Butterflies made me think I needed to go see if there were still any along Pinto Creek. Even as recent as Monday I had seen them along Las Moras Creek. The blurb I heard made it sound like San Antonio was being inundated by them, but I guess it wouldn't have been much of a tease for them to say, "Hey, we're still seeing a few Monarchs in SA."

Out I went and, but heck, I only saw a few Snouts and two Queens on the farm today. I didn't even see a Sulpher or a Fritillary and we were lousy with Fritillaries just last week.

There wasn't much to shoot at all today, really. It's so dry here that everything is dying. Even the Goldeneyes that were covered with all manner of blossoms and flutterbies two weeks ago are now tipped with shriveled crispy yellowness. And, sadly, there are no rain chances in sight.

Kinney County Flowers and the Butterflies Who Love Them.

It really is like Spring around here. This entry is mainly about all the growing things, but some butterflies and bees snuck their way in.

They blossom with a click!







Above: Really best seen enlarged. I liked this shot, it was fun. I'd like to go shoot this flower again. When I first shot it, I didn't realize how truly colorful it was and I wasn't aware of all the tiny little buds ready to open along its length.



Above: The Bermuda grass that grows so well here is, well, growing very well here! This pasture never looked so good, I love grass farming!












Above: I remember reading that when you shoot butterflies, you should always make sure your subject is perfect. But I found myself admiring this tattered fellow so much for continuing his work with such diligence despite how battered he was. The "perfect" butterflies have nothing on him!













I never noticed until yesterday just how much the dead leaves on this plant look like the wings of the Cloudless Sulphur!

I could just cry!

I've taken over 1400 shots in the last two days of what I thought were Monarchs only to have it suggested to me by the Monarch reporting site this morning that perhaps I'm seeing Queens and not Monarchs at all. I sent them a photo and then started researching Monarch look-alikes and, sniff, my Monarchs don't appear to be Monarchs but Queens! I swear, Queens look more like Monarchs than Monarchs do!

Click here for a slide show lesson on identifying Monarchs.

I love my Queens all the same and it's still a remarkable phenomena as far as I'm concerned. I shot several different butterfly species yesterday and can't wait to get them up. I even saw this lime-green and black zebra striped thing that made me GASP but I couldn't get my camera up fast enough.

It's like Spring here, y'all. It's better than Spring because it's a little cooler than Spring normally is! Spring is really just summer in Texas. But the Fall is really very Spring-like. As proof of our Fall-Spring, I've taken several photos of the many blooming things on the farm.

Man, I'm so bummed. But still excited about all the butterfly photos.