Today’s post features a few images I’ve captured in the church butterfly garden (Lake of the Ozarks, MO) over the past few days. The Monarch migration certainly seemed to be suppressed this year, supporting many accounts I have read about their numbers being down.
Here are a few images.
An adult Monarch seeking nectar from a butterfly bush:
A Monarch chrysalis found in the butterfly garden:
A Monarch caterpillar eating a milkweed leaf:
A curious Monarch caterpillar checking out another, on the same milkweed plant:
As of this writing, I have released 2 adult Monarchs back into the butterfly garden, and still have 5 Monarch chrysalises and 3 Monarch caterpillars that I am rearing in my spare bedroom. I’ve had great experiences capturing both photos and videos of these beautiful guys/gals as they transform into the chrysalis, and as they eclose out of the chrysalis into an adult Monarch butterfly. It will take some time, but I will be featuring a few videos, photo sequences and time-lapse photos of these processes, once I can get them done.
Photographic Equipment Used:
- Canon 5D Mark 3 camera body
- Canon 180mm, f/3.5 macro lens, with 36mm of Extension Tubes
- Handheld
- ISO 200 and ISO 500
- Aperture f/3.5, f/4, and f/8
- Shutter 1/250 sec. to 1/8000 sec.