Doin' the dirty

WOW - I like to think I brought in some incredible luck with my last post about how gulf fritillaries, the OG, are difficult to shoot. I can't wait to show you these incredible shots of this experience this morning... I was enjoying photographing butterflies and flowers in Roxy's Square early this morning, went in to upload them, and saw they were all under exposed. I was a bit bummed bc I had an intense moment with a zebra longwing -official state butt of FL - that had landed in a great spot. I did get this fun photo from across the yard of a gulf fritillary dancing around a spiderwort clump along with a pretty shot of dune sunflower, transplanted last spring from a friend's yard.

I went back out after learning I was shooting way under exposed and saw a gulf fritillary land, a rare occasion! I have been observing these orange butts in my yard since 2019 and they move so quickly, often flittering together in pairs...they are entertaining to watch but they are fast and don't often land. I think today was the first time I watched one land and when I looked closer...there were two! I watched them mate for over an hour and every few minutes, a third would try to get in on the action!! I can't stop looking at the photos and I am so excited to share them with you! This is the first time I really played with the settings live to assess how adjusting the aperture and shutter speed alter the lighting. The morning was lovely, overcast and super humid - most of Florida is in a drought right now so the moisture and sun reprieve felt especially soothing. I wound up taking almost 300 photos during this incredible hour I spent watching these two doin' the dirty. I wound up with a low aperture setting and I played with the shutter speed, keeping it low when it was just the two butts and increasing when a third would attempt to join. Photographing these critters has taken my enjoyment of them up to a whole new level. Watching wildlife has been a soul purpose for me since I was a kid but I never realized how much my appreciation could grow through the lens <3 I really don't know how to pick so this will be a long scroll of butterfly baby making...until the next moment of inspiration - cheers!

Oh, and the blue flowers you see in the foreground is blue daze (FL friendly) and the white dainty flowers towards the end is scorpion tail (FL native). I love blue daze as a filler and ground cover and it's nice that it's commercially available pretty much year round. Scorpion tail is a bit more niche, typically only found in local native plant nurseries - I was drawn to the unique itty bitty flower structure and I am glad I got her bc she is a prolific re-seeder. All it took was one plant and she has multiplied many times over in my yard and the pollinators sure do love her!