Part III -- The many butterflies on Pinto Creek near Brackettville

I'm too tired to type in all the names of the individual butterflies you see here, but you can look down my sidebar to see what they are--I've identified nearly every butterfly I've shot in my sidebar.

Below: The Zebra made an appearance again! This is all it would let me catch though. I found him in exactly the same spot on the farm that I found yesterday's Zebra on, which is a spot of flowers in shade very close to the water. Makes me wonder if the Zerbra doesn't like water more than most butterflies. Most of the other butterflies preferred other spots along the creek.

Above: It's driving me nuts trying to figure out what this butterfly's wings look like. It reminds me of some kind of candy (I can't remember what it could have been though), maybe something I used to get when I was a kid in Eagle Pass. But that was the early 70's so maybe the pattern and color just reminds of me the style that was popular then?

Above and Below: I don't have a single good shot of a Monarch with it's wings open (yet). The one above was a long shot I took of several clumping butterflies and this one was flying in to join them. It was very dark and the resolution is poor, I had to do a lot of editing to brighten it up. Imagine what I could have done with a tele-converter! Oh how I wish! Below, the sheer weight of them pulls the flowers and grasses they land on right down, makes it hard to shoot them full on with their wings open.

All of the 10-11-08 Monarch Migration and Pinto Farm Pix can be seen HERE.

Part II -- Brackettville Monarch Mosh

I had too many photos of clumping Monarchs and couldn't decide how to only show you one or two. It's so interesting the way they clump!

Below: I uploaded this Monarch clump photo in full size so, if you click it, the image will be HUGE but I wanted you to appreciate just how many Monarchs were in this tree. You can't see them all when the image is smaller. When I shot it I had no idea just how many Monarchs were up there. I was shocked when I was editing the photos tonight.

Below: They LOVED these dead leaves. They know, quite instinctively, just how well those dead leaves camouflage them. I'm not sure I'd have noticed them there if they weren't so skittish. These butterflies could see me coming from quite a distance. I hope I have a tele-converter lens by the next migration because I could be getting the most amazing Monarch shots if I had one!

All of the 10-11-08 Monarch Migration and Pinto Farm Pix can be seen HERE.

Here they are! Brackettville's first Monarchs of October!

Well, at least the first ones I've seen so far here in Tejas this year.

I'm still having fun with LunaPic so you have to put up with a Monarch Animation in this entry.

I was out on the farm to shoot the Monarchs today, the water looked so beautiful this morning.





The Monarchs, below, were clumped in the trees. I've heard tales about how they can turn the entire crown of a tree orange by the way they clump on it. I've yet to see that.

All of the Queens and Fritillaries were happily skipping from one flower to the next. But precious few Monarchs had any interest in that. They seemed to just want to clump in the pecan trees and in the Mountain Laurel trees. It might have been the gusty wind that dissuaded them from flower hopping.









I shot a few other butterflies and bugs while I was out today, they're in the next two entries. All the butterfly pix from today have been uploaded HERE.

Our Babies

Life has been incredibly busy lately and I haven't had much free time to shoot. A few weeks ago I did get to run out and shoot Our Babies. I shot nothing remarkable, but it at least got me used to the new camera. Plus we need some kind of system to keep track of who is who and how they're progressing so I wanted to photograph them. We'll be selling them online eventually anyway. They're doing really well, by the way, fat and happy.

Photographing them is important to me as I need to learn #112 from #57, and so on and so forth. Somehow we got two #7's. Guess we'll call them the twins.

So in this entry you can see a few shots of our babies and get an idea of what our grass farm looks like at the moment--pasture after pasture full of turned earth and piles of recently "grubbed" trees.

We have some nice woodsy areas preserved near the creek which flows constantly along the border of Pinto Farm. We had hoped Dolly would dump a few inches on us but, alas, we've had nary a drop today. So sad. Just a few inches of rain would turn our whole place green. It would be heaven to have a bunch of rain dumped on our recently cleared pastures!

We're getting a little help from the state to clear the property and we're taking full advantage of it. It's exciting to see the pastures being cleared of trees that shouldn't be there in the first place. Don't feel sorry for all the trees that are getting ripped up. The great, big, old oaks are all quite safe. It's the mesquite and cat's claw we're removing, for the most part. Didja know Mesquite Isn't Even Native To Texas? Crazy, huh?

This shot with the barbed wire made me happy, the camera focused on the post instead of the bull and I got a kinda sorta neat shot of a spider web. Okay, it's not remarkable but, hey, it was cool to me. Especially considering the distance I was from both the fence and the animal. It gives me a clue of what this camera is capable of.


When they see us, they come running in hopes of getting a little treat. It can be a little intimidating if you aren't used to it!







We're fortunate not to have to buy water for the farm. Artesian wells under the property will provide enough water for our grass farming operation.

Final Clovenfield Entry

I created this blog to be my photography portfolio showing my best photo work. And that's pretty much what I use it for except when I'm trying to tell a story or share some event or experience through photos. I did a bit of that today, throwing in some of my less than favorite shots of the day to share what I saw.

I've already posted 99% of my Clovenfield favorites along with some others that I'm not nearly so fond of but they seemed appropriate to add for various reasons. This is the last one that was among my favorites.

What I like about this photo is that the big goat's chest, face, and neck make this nice, nearly S-shaped curve above the baby whose head, back, and tail somewhat mirror that shape. I've been ever in search of the elusive (to me) S-shape in a photo and I think this is the first time I've really gotten it in a way that I cared to share it. Although I may go in soon and try to remove that blasted bit of dried grass that is practically cutting my baby goat in half, ack!

I also loved the little bit of red that you can see in the photo. Without that, it would have been quite blah and I don't think I'd have looked at it twice.

So, not a remarkable shot, but an exciting one for me. My mentor, Jean, taught me to look for certain shapes in my photography composition and I've been looking for an S for about two years now. Finally!

Oh, and in case you are Boer-Curious, here's a link to African Boer Goats.

Good Morning! There are Monarchs in Brackettville today!

I was out there at about 7:15. As it turns out, Monarchs don't get up until about 8:30. Still, I'm glad I was out there! I'm going back out in just a few minutes. But here's a peek at my first shots of the day!

See more of the migration as we're experiencing it here: Monarch Migration -- Brackettville -- 2007

Kersplat! My intent was to shoot the butterflies in Brackettville, not flatten them.

I thought this might be a bad omen. I was on my way out to the farm to scout for Monarchs and SPLAT! Thankfully, it wasn't a Monarch. It was miserably hot out today. I suppose it could have been worse, but the humidity was so high... my corneas were fogging up.

This is the Blue Hole on the farm, the spot I've been heading to first all week to look for Monarchs. I didn't see any for quite awhile and was about to give up and go to the picnic area when suddenly the Monarchs started swooping in!





The Monarchs were fairly thick at the picnic area, but as many as there were--it was nothing compared to what it should be like tomorrow. They were very skittish today. Usually they don't pay you much mind when they're here en masse. I guess there's safety in numbers. Tomorrow should be AMAZING!

The rest of today's shoot: Monarch Migration -- Brackettville -- 2007

Crazy Yellow Flowers in Brackettville

Above is my favorite shot of the bunch, I think. My camera wouldn't focus on the foreground unless I put a flower or two in the center of the shot. REALLY frustrating.

I don't know if that's a bee or some kind of nectar eating fly above. I wish I could have recorded the sounds out there today. With all the flowers, all the bugs on Pinto Creek seem unusually happy, chirpy, and LOUD. Beautiful sounds.

I was out today scouting for Monarchs. I didn't see any. But it didn't stop me from shooting no less than 145 shots. These yellow flowers (Viguiera dentata a.k.a. Goldeneye) are AMAZING. They're just... they just, my gods! They're everywhere! Walls of them! And I didn't know armadillos would stand up like that. I mean, I've seen them stand up on plenty of advertisements for beer and on armadillo themed signs, etc. But I didn't know they'd actually just stand right up and say howdy like this one did. I practically stepped on him by the time I knew he was there. I only got one shot before he took off. I lucked out and got a halfway decent one! A little Googling revealed that armadillos will strike this pose when they sense a threat. They can't see worth jack, but they have a good sense of smell--they rise up on their hind legs to get a better whiff of their environment.

Hubby taught me how to catch an armadillo back when we were dating, I think that's the traditional second date in Texas, we looked for arrowheads on our first date. BORING! To catch an armadillo, you just stay in front of them. They can't see in front of themselves so you can walk right up to them as long as you stay between their eyes, then you just soop them up! The one I caught curled up into a tight little ball immediately, although several internet sources say that only the Brazilian one can do that. Whatever! Maybe the one I caught was young and still flexible enough to curl up.

I took BUNCHES of shots of these flowers and various other things out on or near Pinto Farm this evening, but not many made the cut. You can see the ones that did here: Crazy Yellow Flowers

Monarch Migration in Brackettville, Texas

I shot these on Pinto Creek in Kinney County just outside of Brackettville, TX several years ago after I first got my digital. I haven't tried to shoot the migration since but am eager to try it again and, hopefully, do a much better job. They should be here next week! Monarch Migration