We are at a seriously low level in the photo tanks, so please send me your good wildlife/travel/street photos. Thanks!
Today’s photos come from John Egloff. His captions are indented, and you can enlarge the photos by clicking on them.
Although I’m certainly not a professional photographer, since you always seem to be in need of photos for the “Readers’ wildlife photos” posting on your website, I thought I’d offer up the attached photos I took last month while visiting two different parks.
The first photo is of a Small Skipper (Thymelicus sylvestris) visiting the flowers of a Prairie Ironweed (Vernonia fasciculata). This was taken at Eagle Creek Park in Indianapolis. Eagle Creek Park is one of the largest municipal parks in the United States, with 1,400 acres of water and 3,900 acres of forest.
The remaining photos were taken at the Morton Arboretum in Lisle, Illinois. As you probably know, the Morton Arboretum is about 30 miles east of downtown Chicago, with 1,700 acres of prairie, woodlands and ponds. The Arboretum was established in 1922 by Joy Morton, founder of the Morton Salt Company, whose estate formed the core of the Arboretum’s original property. The first picture is of a Common Eastern Bumble Bee (Bombus impatiens) visiting a White Turtlehead (Chelone glabra).
Here’s a goldenrod soldier beetle (Chauliognathus pensylvanicus) on a Musk Thistle (Carduus nutans). These soldier beetles seemed to be absolutely everywhere.
The next picture is of a Monarch Butterfly (Danaus plexippus), looking a bit worse for wear while sharing a Musk Thistle (Carduus nutans) with another Goldenrod Soldier Beetle (Chauliognathus pensylvanicus).
Next is a photo of a group of quite striking Purple Asters (Symphyotrichum patens).
Here are two photos of a Great Blue Heron (Ardea herodias), who allowed me to approach it quite closely, although in the second photo it seems to be eyeing me with some suspicion.
Last but not least is photo of a green heron (Butorides virescens), with his beak open and displaying his crest.
Very nice pictures! Well done. I was thinking your close ups must be taken with a very small aperture since there is considerable depth of focus.
Thanks, Mark. I’m trying out a new camera, and I actually shot these photos in “program” mode which, as you mentioned, resulted in a very small aperture (although I don’t know what, exactly it was). As I’m sure you know, a blurred background is generally more pleasing, so on my next outing I plan to use either an aperture-preferred or manual mode. Unfortunately, the program mode resulted in all of my photos of the Great Blue Heron being badly backlit (other than the close-up), such that the full-size one posted above became a bit grainy when I lightened it in Photoshop.
Lovely photos, John!
Very nice photos John! Thanks for sharing these.
Thanks everyone.
The great blue close-up is, well, great. I love the flower + insect combos too.