Well, this is about it, folks. This feature, which has been going daily for over a decade, is about to go extinct. It is sad because in general contributions and commenting (especially on science posts) seem to be waning, and an unread website is a dying website.
Fortunately, reader Damon Williford from Texas sent a photo contribution a few minutes ago! His captions are indented, and you can enlarge the photos by clicking on them.
Attached are a few photos of butterflies taken in May at a local park in Bay City, Texas.
Clouded Skipper (Lerema accius):
A pair of mating Clouded Skippers:
Fiery Skipper (Hylephila phyleus) feeding on nectar from lantana (Lantana spp.):
Tropical Checkered-skipper (Burnsius oileus):
Common Buckeye (Junonia coenia):
All photos were taken with a Canon EOS R7 and Canon f/5.6-8 IS USM. I used iNaturalist to identify the insects.
Oh wow the Buckeye!
Read your piece every day!
It is very interesting and like a course about life on earth.
Don’t stop!!!!
These are some really great photos, thanks! I admire both the skill and the patience to get such shots, qualities in which I am regularly deficient.
Great photos. Thanks
Nice pictures!
I love the web site and reading it has become part of my day. I hope that you can keep it going!
Beautiful shots. Thank you.
What a wonderful bunch of photos to start my day.
Thank you!
I would hate to see this part of the website disappear. I’m afraid I’m a lousy photographer.
Beautiful photos, thanks!
These are superb! Skippers are such underappreciated butterflies. Your photos beautifully capture their distinctive features: the hooked club on the end of each antenna and the wings (usually) folded instead of spread out.
Very nice. Those skippers are outrageously cute. I guess the mating pair agrees.
Thanks for the beautiful photos!
Some very nice insects. Thank you.
Concerning RW: I’m in the process of putting together some new bird pics. Hope I’ll manage to write a bit of accompanying text and send them today.
I came for something about evolution education, but stayed around for the photography. I always feel bad that I’m not in a position to contribute myself, given the now long-standing shortage of material. Hopefully, more comes in; and, if this feature has to go to a weekly or occasional one instead of daily, it’s still good enough to keep me coming back!