Macro Moments
- Jul 18
- 2 min read
The flat lighting from the cloud cover early this morning pulled me into Roxy's Square with my Nikon. I fell into two tiny critter moments - I am starting to feel like I need to investigate macro camera options. A quick search resulted in an interesting and affordable lens option for iphones. I am looking forward to splurging on an upgrade in the fall...maybe this lens add on will be a fun addition for backyard critter photography. Check out this itty bitty butterfly I watched for a few minutes. I took about 20 photos of it and wasn't too pleased with any of them but this critter was incredibly small - about the size of a penny - and its body was almost translucent! Definitely not an easy subject to photograph. It was resting on some milkweed with dune sunflower in the background.
I always process my photos on my mac and then import them to Photos so I can look at them on my phone. According to the iphone critter ID function, this is a Nathalis iole common name dainty sulphur - year round resident in Florida and one of the smallest butterflies in North America.
My other tiny critter moment was with a gastropod that I think is an invasive Zachrysia provisoria. I always look down for Roxy landmines - I make cleanup rounds pretty frequently but haven't done so this week - and noticed this guy cruising at an impressive clip! I love his paint job and the pattern of his shell. I didn't know if he was a snail or a slug but he's a snail bc he has an external shell to curl into for moisture retention and protection. Apparently slugs are more evolved bc they've lost their external shell.
I also enjoyed photographing Roxy girl - that look is proud and stubborn defiance during a battle of wills about her digging. I also like this linear shot of American beautyberry that is seeding and beginning to flush her beautiful vivid purple;
spiderwort in the morning sun;
and a crape myrtle bloom. I wrote in the Recovery post that I wasn't sure if the crape myrtle was blooming late or blooming less this year and I am starting to think she is just blooming late. Since 2019, she has reached full bloom consistently in early July but this year it looks like she will be in her full glory in mid to late August instead! Maybe it was the severe cold snap we had in the winter or maybe it was the unseasonably dry spring/early summer.
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