Butterflies Galore

Okay, as promised, here are the shots of the butterflies that I photographed at the Butterfly Pavillion at the Natural History Museum in Los Angeles. I know it's a lot of photos but I really did just post one shot of each butterfly....I think. I identified some of them but not all. Feel free to let me know the names of any I couldn't identify. You can click on any of these for a larger image.

There were kids all over the place. I spent half my time trying not to step on any butterflies and the kids. The man at the door very gently explained to the kids how delicate the butterfly wings were and this was why they could not and should not touch them. So why are there always the kids who just have to try to touch them anyway?


Still, the kids were cute and so excited. I was a little excited myself. I'd never seen so many butterflies, most of them sitting there letting me take as many close-ups as I wanted. I was a big kid with a camera.

JULIA & PIPEVINE SWALLOWTAIL

If you have a butterfly garden near you or ever have the opportunity to visit something like this I highly recommend going.

GREAT SOUTHERN WHITE

MONARCH

WHITE PEACOCK & ?

BUCKEYE

CABBAGE WHITE - JULIA?

ZEBRA LONGWING

I'll definitely go back before the exhibit is gone (September). Just what I need... 200-300 more butterfly shots. LOL!

Pavillion of Wings

This is the first time I haven't had a lot of time to visit participants of my own meme. I'm about to get to it so I have a lot of catching up to do. But before I did, I had to post at least one photo from my little adventure yesterday. The Natural History Museum in Los Angeles has a Butterfly Pavillion from April 15 - September 7th this year. I just learned about it and apparently this is their 9th year. I got some really great shots and messed up some really great shots. Just had to share one of them before I start visiting my folks from Watery Wednesday.

MONARCH BUTTERFLY


This is one of the shots I messed up. In the view finder it looked perfect. It's not as sharp as I thought it was but I still love it. I'll share more of these beautiful butterflies and try to figure out their names after I'm done catching up with WW.

Watery Wednesday #33

I hope I haven't posted this shot already. I took this up at the lake at Bonelli Park. There are always people fishing at spots all around the lake. I can't say that I've ever seen anyone catch any. Although, I did ask this man once if he'd caught anything. He pulled out his cellphone and showed me a shot of the one he caught. It was a small fish and he had a cigarette beside it to show the size of this whopper. It wasn't as long as the cigarette. We both had a good laugh.


If you haven't already done so, pull out those water shots and go get those eyes wet!

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My World Tuesday/Nature Notes - RSABG #5

I've been posting about my visit to Rancho Santa Ana Botanical Gardens. I wanted to finally give you a glimpse of what it actually looks like inside rather than just the things I photographed. The only thing I don't like about Rancho Santa Ana is that as far as the vegetation goes, you just about see the same thing no matter where you are except in the desert section where the cacti and desert plants grow.


Thought the paths and areas are different there's not much variety during your walk or hope of seeing something different than what you saw on the path you were on half an hour ago.


Having said that, I still enjoyed myself and would recommend it to anyone. It's sad they've started charging rather than just taking donations but I can imagine how many people walked in without dropping a dime in the donation bin.

I highly recommend clicking on some of the smaller photos so you can get a real view of the beauty and thick plants and trees that surround you along the paths.

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Mellow Yellow Monday - RSABG #4

Though this is my entry for Mellow Yellow Monday, it's also my 4th from my visit to the Rancho Santa Ana Botanical Gardens. I've never seen this before but I thought the flowers were so pretty and interesting. They sure made for great shots. The plant/bush/tree is called Fromontodendron, or "Fred Taylor", or California Glory. When I first saw it is was a huge bush than spilled over with it's flowers along the ramp up to the top level of the gardens. This first one was taken at eye level as I walked up the ramp. It was about 2 feet tall.


But as I walked far back into the gardens I saw these as what I guess you would call trees. To give you a perspective on the size, if I was standing next to it, my head would be about half way up in the photo and there were taller ones.



Notice how the center looks almost like plastic.




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Today's Flowers - RSABG #3

I thought I'd post some cactus flowers, photos I took at my visit to the Rancho Santa Ana Botanical Gardens, also my post #3 on my photos from that visit.







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Kind of A Squirrely Day - RSABG #2

I went to Rancho Santa Ana Botanical Gardens yesterday. I walked my booty off. Okay, not really. It's still back there but it was quite a trek and I almost got lost. I didn't realize how far back it extended. Why can't I go anywhere without taking over 400 shots? I get back and it's very difficult to share them without boring anyone. I posted a few shots below this post of some of the lady bugs that were out. They were everywhere!


These are just a couple of the squirrels that were rustling through the leaves under the many trees. This first one caught my attention sitting on the top of a bench as I walked towards it. I managed to get a couple of shots before a jogger came close enough to send it leaping into the nearest tree.


I copped a squat on a bench for a minute and as I was sitting there browsing through the photos I'd taken I hear a rustling in the leaves over my shoulder. I look over and this little guy is sitting there less than a yard from the bench and it let me take a couple of close-ups. Actually, I got quite a few. :-)

Little Ladybug - RSABG #1

My first post about my visit to Rancho Santa Ana Botanical Gardens yesterday. I was surprised at how many ladybugs were out yesterday. They were everywhere and I found myself ducking a few that were flying across the path I was walking.

Sky Watch Friday

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