just love a dragonfly in flight

I always wonder how these beauties fly with such tattered wings

Wandering Glider Dragonfly looking like a weather vane at the Stone Harbor Wetlands Institute NJ.

Bee take off frontal

The Comma gets its name from the comma shaped marking on it's underside. Taken at Sidings Lane Nature Reserve, Rainford, UK

Wool carder bee

Blackberry feast.

Bombus pascuorum collection nectar and pollen from a field scabious

These beauties are a couple of freshies that I released. They were able to fly but chose to hang out a while.

During this time, the beautiful male in the image to the left swooped in and carried one of them away.

It only took a minute for the other beautiful female to be swept off her wings and to the trees.

Have a fantastic day and happy snapping.

hoverfly in flight looking like it's just dived off a flower

Three Zebra Longwing butterflies cling to an orchid root. They usually find these roots a great place to spend the night. They remain here until the morning temperature warms a little and off they go to start their day among the flowers in my garden and elsewhere.

There are a lot of Zebras flitting about. This is the Florida State Butterfly. I have raised a few but I believe it's time to raise some more. The focus has been on monarchs for the last couple of weeks.

Have a beautiful day and happy snapping.

Aplocera plagiata or Treble-Bar moth

hoverfly in flight with a dark background. Manual focus as I find the lens hunts too much and keeps looking at the background. I had to slide the crap out of this as it is highly cropped with a slow lens in poor light.

A dragonfly in full flight.

Maniola jurtina

Once upon a time I would visit my grandmother twice a week, every week for a couple of hours. When I would get up to leave she would say to me "You didn't stay very long, come back when you can stay longer." Well, that is how I feel about some of these butterflies.

The Palamedes is one that I will actually chase about the yard. They visit on occasion and they don't stay long enough if you ask me. This one was playing hide and seek. He would sip some nectar then fly over the fence to the neighbors yard and circle back to a different location in the yard. I would find him, try and get a shot or two and off he would go again.

Little bugger, kept his eye on me the whole time and stayed pretty much out of reach of the camera. Like the Tiger, I have never had the opportunity to raise any of these beauties. Perhaps one day that will change. For now, I shall just enjoy the visits and play the games. Well, I won't always play the games, sometimes the visits will have to be enjoyed in my head. Just knowing they are out there is a good feeling.

Have a terrific Tuesday and happy snapping.

Something so little holds so much life

This was taken at Dow Gardens. I think it's a juvenile blue dasher. I couldn't get close enough to get the shot, so this is cropped quite a bit. I was surprised that it was as sharp as it is.

Thanks for views, comments and favs :)

A bit like Trump at the moment

Legg Park, Meridian Township, Michigan

Shot with single off-camera strob (Leica SF 60/Leica SF C1) hand-held, modified with MagMod MagSphere. to provide fill-lite. Highspeed synch/TTL metering used.