Cherish is my favorite word, and I cherish the ability of turning the routine into a beautiful moment.
Nature creates in me, a spiritual and meditative time to bring peace, harmony and balance, into an otherwise ordinary day~
Mary Howell Cromer







Sunday, August 26, 2012

Finally, at Last, My Very Own Encounter With a Zebra Swallowtail~



 A few years ago, I had my very first encounter ever with one of these amazing butterflies.  
It was a Spring form with 2.5 a inch wingspan.  
The Summer form has a 4.1 inch wingspan.  
My first encounter, ended up with me as usual, chasing it down and getting no image, not even close.  
Then a year ago this past spring, one flew across the gardens and lawn next door, but never stayed to nourish itself and by the time, I went around our fenced it yard, it was no where to be found.  
Then came yesterday and oh my what a great short story.  
I was coming home on Covered Bridge Road, a 2 lane country road, with lots of pasture land.  
We had just passed the entrance to Foxhollow Farm and something caught my peripheral from the left, something large and light coloured, fluttering above the flowers.  I did a quick turn around and guess what...there it was.  I have included an image of the lane, and can you imagine my good fortune to have taken that quick glance and then went for the moment...  
It was so thrilling, and just as soon as I had taken way too many images of a single butterfly, it gave up it's nourishment and flew across the road, and into the cow pasture, and just like that it was gone.  
All I could do was smile and  be very happy.

Happy Monday, happy week to each of you.  

I am linking up with Mary for:
"Mosaic Monday"
at:
http://dearlittleredhouse.blogspot.com/

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

23 comments:

  1. Lovely images of the Zebra Swallowtail. Great sighting, Mary!

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  2. i've never seen a zebra in person. beautiful red stripes! i LOVE the shot of the fenceline. :)

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  3. Very exciting to see these incredible creatures. Great shots too. Valerie

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  4. Delightful! No wonder you were so happy about this good capture. I also enjoyed seeing the lane...

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  5. Wow, that is a stunning butterfly! I have never seen a Zebra Swallowtail before...great shot.

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  6. He is a perfect specimen! I know you were thrilled to spot this special butterfly and we can all enjoy your photos!

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  7. Mary,

    Great images, tried many years to get a decent photo of these swallowtails and have nothing this good to date!

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  8. Wow! Wonderful captures. I love these beautiful butterflies. I don't get to see them very often.

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  9. How beautiful! I don't think I've ever seen one of these.

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  10. Thats a remarkable butterfly - and so nice of it to sit side on!

    Butterfly season will start here in a few months - I cant wait.

    Stewart M.

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  11. What a superb butterfly that is Mary - your photographs do it justice indeed. Great work to find and track it down. Have a great week.

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  12. Beautiful details! I don't think I've seen one of these before as well.

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  13. I've never seen a Zebra Swallowtail, period. Those are gorgeous photos! Awesome looking butterfly! Love your fence shot, too! Very nice!

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  14. Wow looks like you got a lot of pictures. Probably hard to choose which one to publish in this post. They are fantastic Mary... We have one similar butterfly in France, but it is quite hard to get nice pictures like that. Does not stop to fly!!

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  15. Fabulous shots of the Butterfly - and I love how you threw in that impressive shot of the flowers and fenceline. The perspective is great on that photo.

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  16. Wonderful captures of this striking butterfly. The paw-paw tree is the only host plant for this species. Funny how when we have a subject in mind we desire our minds are on super alert. Just a glimpse of movement can can trigger a response even if we are not knowingly seeking the subject at the time.

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  17. Beautiful nature photographs. The butterfly photos are my favorites. Love flowers and mosaics.
    I enjoyed my walk with you………

    ~Emily
    The French Hutch

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  18. Great pics - thanks for sharing them with us.

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  19. So glad this beauty presented itself to you, Mary. You certainly got some terrific shots! The one one of the lane is beautiful, too. So dreamy!

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  20. Beautiful!! I have never seen a Zebra Swallowtail. Thanks for sharing your lovely photos.

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  21. What a beautiful photos !!
    I love the contrast of this butterfly with the flower ! Thank you Mary for your comments on my blog, it is always appreciated.

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  22. Nice one Mary, the Hummingbird and Swallowtail is beautiful.

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  23. Very nice serie, what a beautifull butterfly. The 2nd image is standing out, its very special ;)

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