Outdoor Ontario
Photography => Nature => Topic started by: Ally on June 14, 2020, 01:07:16 PM
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I think I heard the cuckoo, but I was too anxious, think I scared it away. Got out anyway, saw 6 or 7 Eastern Tiger Swallowtails
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got another one too, but very blurred pic. Hope someone can ID.
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Are these males?
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Stunning Tiger Swallowtail, just fabulous.
Hint: with the very dark damselfly you need mucho light, especially when direct
sunlight is already giving you mucho light from only one direction. Fill light may
help, such as a flash emitter choked with a single layer of tissue, or some other
diffusing material, or by the use of a mirror (any highly reflective surface) held
as ancillary fill. Tricky business when holding a heavy lens. I've used one before
clamped to a pointed stick, which gets stuck into the ground near the subject.
I've also used a powerful LED light attached to a headband (MEC) and play with
aligning that. It's hard to compete with the sun. Nonetheless, good stuff!
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Wonderful photo of the Swallowtail. The blurred one is most likely a Red Admiral.
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(https://photos.smugmug.com/photos/i-Sn4TgQz/0/4c93e7cd/L/i-Sn4TgQz-L.jpg) (https://www.smugmug.com/gallery/n-358cgw/i-Sn4TgQz/A)
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Wonderful photo of the Swallowtail. The blurred one is most likely a Red Admiral.
Thanks. so glad to make a lot of winged friends
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Stunning Tiger Swallowtail, just fabulous.
Hint: with the very dark damselfly you need mucho light, especially when direct
sunlight is already giving you mucho light from only one direction. Fill light may
help, such as a flash emitter choked with a single layer of tissue, or some other
diffusing material, or by the use of a mirror (any highly reflective surface) held
as ancillary fill. Tricky business when holding a heavy lens. I've used one before
clamped to a pointed stick, which gets stuck into the ground near the subject.
I've also used a powerful LED light attached to a headband (MEC) and play with
aligning that. It's hard to compete with the sun. Nonetheless, good stuff!
Hint indeed! I didn't understand much of it, again :D :D Thank you. I followed the tip of having the sun behind me, not an easy thing to do. they move faster than I do.
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Hi Ally,
Your blurred butterfly is actually a painted lady. The others in that post are viceroys. Very nice shots btw; I'm still looking for my first viceroy this year but it's been a great year for tiger swallowtails and I have a flowering shrub (small white flowers - I think it's some type of lilac?) that will be covered with butterflies in a few days.
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Hi Ally,
Your blurred butterfly is actually a painted lady. The others in that post are viceroys. Very nice shots btw; I'm still looking for my first viceroy this year but it's been a great year for tiger swallowtails and I have a flowering shrub (small white flowers - I think it's some type of lilac?) that will be covered with butterflies in a few days.
Thank you. I googled and it fits painted lady. I thought butterfly would be easier than birds. Am I wrong again! how about your hummers, do they go to flowers? There are lots of roses in front of the window but only bees and bumblebees visit them.
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Oh my god! I have to share this, I just stepped out with my coffee and stood in the yard for a little bit. A Eastern Tiger Swallowtail came and perched on me for a few seconds. I'm wearing a rose color top, but there are hundreds of roses 2 meters behind me. He chose me instead! That was quite a feeling.
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There are no flowers in my yard and my neighbour has honeysuckle but they always go straight to the feeder and then head back to the woods across the street. I've seen them poking around the snapdragons at the side of the house but I don't think they get much nectar from them. Yesterday was super busy with hummers visiting 2 or 3 times a minute and I still haven't seen any fledglings so July and August should be lots of fun! :)
I just saw your post about the tiger swallowtail perching on you. That's pretty cool! Red admirals do that all the time but I've never had a swallowtail check me out.
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That is such a sensational pic with vivid colours and serious expression of the hummer. I love it!
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Arresting shot of a male RT Hummer. The lighting is painterly in quality and the
pose very compelling. I have not seen many males yet and have not been able to
photograph the couple of times a male did appear on the feeder. Getting a shot
on a natural perch is very exciting. Well done.
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My goodness Howieh. Please send a Hummer my way.
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Thanks. That SX50 shot was taken a couple of years ago when both males and females would perch in that tree on their way to the feeder, certainly not DSLR quality but it's at least thirty feet from the window so my old 100-400 Canon lens would have come up short! I set up natural(?) perches all over the yard by stripping leaves from horizontal branches and the fledglings often come and sit a few inches apart and stare each other down. My current male doesn't stay long at the feeder but he likes to sit on top of the shepherds hook that holds the regular feeder so I've gotten shots of him up there. I really shouldn't hog Ally's thread but here are a couple for the road:
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Please do hog, especially when you have good tips and superb shots of your half hummer, half hatch. that last pic looked like what a nuthatch would do. You description was so vivid, brought memory of seeing a bunting knocking a hummer off a perch at Riverwood.
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First I can't get Meagan's owls out of my head, and then Steven Hood's Yellow warbler, and
then Ally's Tiger Swallowtail and now your Hummer. Like a painting!
(https://photos.smugmug.com/photos/i-nCcKDfc/0/333fe4ca/L/i-nCcKDfc-L.jpg) (https://www.smugmug.com/gallery/n-358cgw/i-nCcKDfc/A)
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wow, I got mentioned. Now I know how those celebrity feels, and so full of myself, even start to consider achohol. Just kidding, I won't. But please check out my bunting photo, I was so proud of myself with that :D
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Process into shadows of Stunner of a Hummer
(https://photos.smugmug.com/photos/i-skLg2mf/0/af3e106c/L/i-skLg2mf-L.jpg) (https://www.smugmug.com/gallery/n-358cgw/i-skLg2mf/A)
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Ok, so I got a bit carried away with over processing but this little guy was so cooperative I was able to approach him and use the onboard flash on my SX50 several times without scaring him away. The other shots are taken from a back window and because I was shooting down the gorget (neck) feathers were at their maximum brightness. Apparently male hummers can angle their gorget feathers to reflect light in such a way as to impress females. Btw, my son says I should shoot raw even with my SX50 but I'm too lazy...but I am tempted!
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Just one more - I promise! I see this pose quite frequently in the heat of the summer when the sun is high in the sky. I think she is either drying her feathers or just trying to absorb the suns heat, not sure why the tail feathers are fanned, maybe for balance?
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Such an intriguing pic, I thinking it's sunning. I am always happy to see birds do their own things. two days ago, I found a blue jay sitting on edge of the bird bath/ drinking bowl and all puffed up in a quite similar pose to the hummer girl. late afternoon sun, all I saw at first was a 'big' white bird. It took me a while to realise what it was, and even more time to get my camera (limping still), so you will just have to use your imgaination this time.