Yesterday afternoon I took a spin on the bike over to the local butterfly park, which isn't far from our apartment. The paths at the park lead through both cultivated, blooming gardens and wild forests, and I got some good photos of various critters. Ironically I didn't find many butterflies -- maybe it's too early in the summer? -- but I did find lots of birds and insects.
Several white butterflies like the one above were bobbing and weaving around the flowers along the path, but they were very hard to photograph. They landed only briefly before flitting away.
Many of the flowers were loaded with bees.
My most exciting find was this grey-bodied bird with a bright pink head. I think it's a house finch. It was bathing in this puddle, but took flight just as I snapped a picture. It flew to a nearby branch and sat for a while, watching me. This was the clearest shot I could get:
I also saw robins, redwing blackbirds and woodpeckers. Then I went riding for a while before coming back home to a welcome shower.
Mmmm! Butterflies taste good!
ReplyDeleteI love that shot of the house finch flying away (and yes, that's a house finch!) Sometimes a quick, blurry, "imperfect" shot captures the mood of a scene so much more accurately than a perfectly composed (and subsequently too posed) shot.
ReplyDeleteIt's great you have nature so close to home. How are the dogs doing with the heat these days?
ReplyDeleteHouse Finch. We have them on the feeders in the front yard. The stray cats tell me they taste like chicken.
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