Finally, the beautiful dark morph female tiger decided to cooperate for an open winged shot. Well if you can call it cooperation. She was in an area where I could see her instead of being too high to photograph. She has shades of brown and brownish gold on her upper wings along with some of those orange dots. The lower wings are shades of black with some beautiful blues slashed throughout and she does have those orange eye spots on each of the lower wings.

Today is an amazing day for butterflies in the garden. I may have to take the camera out after while but for now, I am trying to focus on some inside chores. That means blinds down so there is less temptation to ignore the necessities and go outside to play. I can be such a kid at heart sometimes :) Today I have decided to set an hourly alarm. I will tend to my real duties for a solid hour with the blinds down. Then I will take a short break for fun stuff like flickr and going outside to play. To be fair, I will set a 20 minute alarm for breaks so I will remember I am going to get some things done today.

Pink-spotted Hawk Moth (Agrius cingulatus)

At Meijer Gardens last year. The event was cut short last year because of COVID. Hope this year, we will be able to go in to see the butterflies in March and April.

Thanks for views, comments and favs :)

Thanks for comments and favs :)

Chrysotoxum Bicinctumis a Hoverfly blonging to the Syrphini family. Found in grassland habitats close to woodland during May to September.

Many thanks to you ALL for the views, faves and comments you make on my shots it is very appreciated.

A Tree Wasp (Dolichovespula sylvestris) searches for small insect prey around a Crocosmia Lucifer flower spike

No 6 in Smoke Ring series

Legg Park, Meridian Township, Michigan

Shot with single off-camera flash(Leica SF60 \ Leica SF C1 trigger), modified with MagMod MagSphere as fill, to right of camera and above subject. TTL metering mode.

After a night of torrential downpours, I found these butterflies clinging on the dead flower stems of the Queen’s Wreath (Petrea volubilis).

I bet you thought it was a Monarch, huh?

From Wikipedia: Dryas iulia (often incorrectly spelled julia), is also commonly called the Julia butterfly, or Julia heliconian, Male Julia butterflies can be identified by their brighter orange color, compared to the duller orange exhibited by females . D. iulia is common in the tropical and subtropical areas of North, Central, and South America. Photographed in the Butterfly Atrium, Hershey Gardens, Hershey, Pennsylvania.

I want to thank my Flickr friends for your visits, comments, and favs throughout 2020 and wish each of you a much happier and healthier 2021.

Happy New Year!

Cloudless Sulphur (Phoebis sennae)

People often think of insects as dirty, but some are quite clean -- this Guinea Paper Wasp is taking quite a lot of time to make sure everything is in order.

Bee and Blackberry Blossom, West Vancouver, British Columbia,

Canada