We visited the Cape May Migratory Bird Refuge this morning. My kids basically rushed through the whole trail walk, eager to be finish what their mom looked forward to viewing the most on our little vacation. But at least they were good sports about it. I would have enjoyed having you, my blog readers, there, so you could help me with photography tips and identifying the birds and the flowers. And just generally enjoying looking. Lots of beautiful scenery.
So, please raise your hand if you know what kind of butterfly this is. Please raise it even higher if you can name the pretty purple wildflower (to me it looks like purple ageratum). Stomp your feet on the ground if you like looking for butterflies. Or photographing wildflowers.
For more Nature Notes, please visit:
And now for a bit of Lewis Carroll (whole poem is here):
That fluttered round the lamp:
He looked again, and found it was
A Penny-Postage Stamp.
‘You’d best be getting home,’ he said:
‘The nights are very damp!’
great pictures!
Aha! I knew you’d find a way to post! These are beautiful! And I believe the butterfly is a Black Swallowtail. I’m afraid I don’t know the flower off the top of my head, though.
I’m so glad you got to spend part of your vacation doing something you love. 🙂
Did you take these pics? They’re amazing and gorgeous!
Rosie, hi, long time no hear (how’s mommyhood?) – yes I took these and 500 others on our trip this week.
Well done with the photos! Ones to be proud of and show off – thanks for sharing here.
Mommyhood is going good! Busy but fun. 🙂 Caleb is growing so fast! And way back when you asked about Caleb’s name. It wasn’t intentional that we chose a name from the Bible but glad it is someone who was a good man and good leader.
Wow, these are awesome pictures. I had a chance to take a picture of a butterfly on a flower yesterday but I decided to keep on walking, I wished I had stopped now.
I agree on the black swallowtail for the butterfly, aka as Papilio polyxenes, Parsnip, and/or American swallowtail.
As always, I click too fast. I love your photos, and like the delicate look to the flowers.
Shabbat Shalom.
I was going to look up the butterfly, but you got the id. Beautiful. I love the swallowtails and I haven’t seen one here in weeks. Fall is on its way and I haven’t had enough of summer yet. I thought of a simple bird feeder that you could have that wouldn’t be a big investment of money or time to keep it up. Let me see if I can find it… Here it is a little window feeder. window feeder. You can put some seed in and watch from a window. Small and easy to clean.
$15.95 sounds look a good price! I could put it on my garage window.
You would love the nature sites at Cape May. There’s this one, Cape May Migratory Bird Refuge, which is run by Nature Conservacy, a private organization, and Cape May Bird Observatory, which is run by the Audubon Society (for our next visit). There’s Cape May Point State Park. And then there’s the Wetlands Institute, too…
Beautiful pictures. You’re inspiring me to look for a photography course and to get photoshop.
I have always wanted to go to Cape May. It sounds like such a beautiful place to visit.
Thank you for sharing your photos.
Melissa
I think this is the female of Tiger Swallowtail. I had the male version last week. Everybody was asking if it is a he or she – so I checked – yours looks like the female – which is more black – but still has some yellow and blue pretty decoration.
What wonderful shots of the butterfly. I must have missed this when you first posted it so I’m very glad you included it in your 2009 roundup.
I wish I could visit Cape May once per week. Such wonderful nature.