Butterflies are fascinating creatures big and small! Watching them flutter from this place or that place is quite the hobby for many people. I am no different! On this day as I was out tending the flowers I noticed this little one fluttering here and there and thought what the hay , lets get some photographs! That I did.

This was the first shot I got. Not sure I could get all that close so kept my distance. The hairstreak in our garden like the hollyhocks, this is what is pictured here is the bud of the hollyhock of course she is laying eggs when I got there! This series of shots was taken back in July of 2014.

I like how such a creature as a butterfly lays her eggs in a spot that the caterpillar will make the most out of the flower ie plant . I do not stop this, for it is nature and well, I like the butterflies! I like watching the process even though my flowers do come out rather eaten up at times ha

The little butterfly allowed me in pretty close without stressing her out, so I took the opportunity! I pretty much do the same thing everyday and the critters get used to me, not saying they are going to allow me to touch them or anything…. they just get used to me being out there. If say Guy was with me, critters would not go on with life for Guy is not out there everyday , or every week even though he would like to be his schedule just does not allow him to be. I am also not big on allowing strangers here. This tends to stress out the creatures that live here and to be honest stresses me out too!

If one wants to get in close to critters, one thing is…. dont put on bug killers! I never understood this from other photographers. Spray on bug killer to photograph butterflies, HELLO. Then wonder why the butterflies fly off from you. If you want to photograph larger critters, not the wisest thing to do is put on perfume down wind right?

She checked me out then went to this hollyhock flower buds. She is almost a perfect specimen dont you think?? No damage from the birds here for the birds have other things to eat other then the butterflies! These little butterflies the cats do not even mess with, they are little!! Now the swallowtail butterflies are a different story. The damage on those at times comes from cats.

Cats…. my sons cat has rules here. The cat will follow me around. However when I am busy and no more pets from me he will go lay down in the sun or shade and do what cats do. We do have the bird area in which the cat is not allowed in at all. The critters here know my rules and it is to keep everyone living stress free. If whatever does not know my rules, they learn! Stray cats get quickly shooed off the property.

You can see her doing her thing however, body language tells me in this shot she knows I am there. I am just not doing anything that would cause her any stress. I just dont like to crop my photographs or do anything to them and like to just take them off the camera so I want shots that are going to show whatever I am photographing the best I can. The critters tend to play well with me.

This is the last of the series. She was a great subject to photograph….. I just felt we both had enough. Plus my arms were getting tired haha! No I dont use my tri pod all that much….. I find it confining. What if something is going on over there and I need to act quickly or loose the shot??

The first photograph up there is a wild one I photographed in the national grasslands out side of Madras Oregon. Oh boy that is a fantastic place for butterflies!! However I am happy with the residence I have right here in my own yard !

I read a lot about critters , if you dont know that haha – I have ran across several articles about butterfly folks who raise these inside the house. Now that would be interesting? Though inside my plant room I also have frogs that moved in and they may see this as something I was very kind to offer THEM……BUTTERFLIES

Hope you enjoyed my little write up and photographs!

Thank you for visiting with me

Coralie

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