Bookmark - New Taipei Monarch (maybe) (Animal Series - Butterflies)

Saving the best for last in the butterfly series, this one captured in a beautiful parklette in New Taipei, Taiwan.  Didn't think much of it when the shutter was snapped, but things came together as I realized its potential during post-capture.

It looks like a monarch, but is so far from where monarchs are usually found this may be a different species.  Don't know for sure...

Bookmarks - Black, White and Red Butterfly (Animal Series - Butterflies)

These guys were much more difficult to capture, but I stuck with it long enough to get a few keepers.  Don't know how long they live, but this one was around long enough to have seen some wing damage, though it flew fine.

Thought at first during post-capture that these two were from the same frame, but turns out they are indeed different photos:

Bookmark - Two Butterflies at the Taipei Zoo (Animal Series - Butterflies)

Not only was this type of butterfly easy to capture because of its slow-moving ways, there were so many of them it was easy to get more than one in a single frame.

De-saturate the reds at the top and we have room for lettering in this one...

Bookmark - Frontal of Taipei Zoo Butterfly (Animal Series - Butterflies)

As mentioned in the original post featuring this critter, it was easy to capture this type of butterfly as it was slow-moving and predictable.  He must have stayed put here for a full ten seconds, allowing me to get picky as I focused and composed.

Bookmarks - Navasota Monarch (Animal Series - Butterflies)

Birds, then bees, then butterflies.  This also is logical.  Even though butterflies are just insects, they are so pretty and universally loved that they get their own place in the series.  Other insects and creepy-crawlies are next.

The shots above and below are the first decent butterfly pics captured with the Big Cahoona.  On a Girl Scout canoe trip along the Navasota River this guy appeared out of nowhere and landed on a thistle right next to me.  Naturally I went nuts, snapping away and keeping the best including these two.

Navasota series in its entirety was posted back in April of 2011.

Bookmark - Bee on Purple Flowers at the Houston Zoo (Animals - Bees)

One of my all-time favorites captured with the Bigger Cahoona, this was my first chance to test the incredible light-gathering capacity of the awesome sensor in the D850.  The pic was quite dark, as my middling lens kept the shutter speed slow, but brightened to an acceptable level as can be seen here.

Original as posted here in its larger extent

Bookmark - Navasota Bee (Animals - Bees)

We've done birds - now for the bees.  Seems logical.

I call this the Navasota bee because it was captured along the Navasota River close to the town of Navasota, Texas.  It was for a kayak outing with Allison's Girl Scout troop back in 2011, and with the Big Cahoona as my constant companion I was ready for the many photo ops that happened by.

Bookmark - New Taipei Bird Silhouette (Animal Series - Birds)

Closing out the bird bookmark series with this silhouette, originally posted here.

Bookmark - Ostrich (Animal Series - Birds)

 

Bookmark - Ibis Reflection (Animal Series - Birds)

 Posted here in its much larger extent.

Bookmark - Black-and-White Bird at the Houston Zoo (Animal Series - Birds) / Passage of Time

One captured with the Nikon D300s (the Big Cahoona) at the Houston Zoo many years ago.  My, time flies...

And it really does, this time business.  Hard to believe that one of my best church friends in Nacogdoches, Kennie Sanford, was born in 1896 and related how his family moved from one part of East Texas to another in a covered wagon when making 20 miles was a good day of travel.  And my paternal grandmother, born in 1900, was 26 years old when Abraham Lincoln's eldest son died of old age.  Her husband, my maternal grandfather, was born in 1888, a mere 22 years after the Civil War ended.  Since he was 15 when the very first airplane flew under its own power, he probably remembered the news when the Wright Flyer made headlines (though it didn't exactly make headlines at first).

And even within my own short lifetime of 62 years I can tell stories of the advent of color television, and life before the digital/computer age.  Seems like yesterday when hard-copy books were the standard medium of study at all levels.  It goes on and on...

Bookmarks - Bird Profiles (Animal Series - Birds)

Three bird profiles, all captured and posted from a more recent visit to the Taipei Zoo.

Bookmark - White Dove (Animal Series - Birds)

Another Houston Zoo shot.  Might be good for some lettering at the bottom...

From 2006 - Silhouette 01

Taken from inside our tent at Lost Maples on a campout.

 

Greater extent featured below:

 

Bookmark - Sparrow Silhouette (Animal Series - Birds)

And to round out the week, a very cropped-in photo featuring a sparrow silhouetted against a foggy sky in the Houston Zoo parking lot.  I like silhouette shots anyway, but birds are a favorite because they are so easy to identify as the subject.

Bookmark - Shoebill at the Houston Zoo (Animal Series - Birds)

Another favorite, for different reasons.  This was posted on my cubicle wall at work to intimidate those who dared approach with questions...

Bookmark - Colorful Bird (Animal Series - Birds)

One of my all-time favorite birds (but not bird pics) at the Houston Zoo, because of its incredible array of colors.  Captured with the Big Cahoona way back when...

Bookmark - Flamingo Backs (Animal Series - Birds)

Originally posted here, this was captured with the Bigger Cahoona on one of many trips to the Houston Zoo back in 2018.  Sure paid that year to have a membership.  Has been mostly under construction since then, and the pandemic took it out for a full year in 2020, but with time the zoo might be able to compete with others around the country that are so much better (in my opinion).

Bookmark - Colorful Bird from the Houston Zoo (Animal Series - Birds)

Some birds live a long time, and it's interesting to go back to the zoo, see a bird and think "Yeah, this guy was posted x years ago."  Fascinating creatures, but a handful if you have one for a pet.

Bookmark - Smokestack Birds (Animal Series - Birds)

Another bookmark featuring a pelican, plus some of his feathery friends.

Bookmark - Corpus Christi Pelican (Animal Series - Birds)

Haven't picked up the camera in quite a while, and was going to just let the blog lapse, but thought What the heck, just keep going...

Moving over to birds now with one captured during a business trip to Corpus using the Fuji 7000 point-and-shoot.  Most, but not all, of the shots in the coming bird series have been posted previously in the blog at one time or another.

Bookmarks - Giraffes (Animal Series - Mammals Revisited)

Three of the same giraffe, all captured at the Houston Zoo in a span of about two minutes (2018).

Bookmark - Zhuqi Monkey (Animal Series - Mammals)

Originally posted in a series from our most recent trip to Taiwan, this wild Formosan Macaque was using a cable serving as a highway over a valley between his home and some fruit trees on the other side.  Seeing me clacking away with the Bigger Cahoona, he chickened out and returned to his brood without breakfast that day.

Bookmark - Orangutan Family (Animal Series - Mammals)

A few posts ago a dejected juvenile orangutan was featured as he sat on a logtop pouting because he wasn't getting enough attention.  Here he is again, with his mother in the background focusing on the needier sibling.

Bookmark - Estes Park Elk (Animal Series - Mammals)

Had to scrunch down and shoot between the wooden rails to capture this doe from the deck of a restaurant in Estes Park, CO.  Posted originally in this series from 2011.

Bookmark - Taipei Zoo Macaque (Animal Series - Mammals)

This one required lots of post-capture work since this guys' facial features were almost entirely obscured by shadow.  Looks forlorn and lonely, doesn't he?  Very reflective, pensive demeanor.  Reminded me of one of the saddest pictures I've ever taken of a primate, a picture originally posted here.

Bookmark - Squirrel at Rice (Animal Series - Mammals)

One day my brother Mike, his girlfriend-at-the-time and I went to Rice University to walk the grounds.  As fast as they twitch their way around, was lucky to capture this guy at just the right moment...

Bookmark - Orangutan Back (Animal Series - Mammals)

An interesting view of the haunches on which this fellow is sitting.  This was a juvenile in the Houston Zoo, sitting dejectedly as his mom paid more attention to his baby sibling nearby.

Bookmark - Ambleside Eye (Animal Series - Mammals)

One from the prolific shoot of our Ambleside walk in England's Lake District.  Still amazed at what I was able to capture considering that I hadn't brought along a charger or a spare battery.  Series posted here.

Bookmark - Krowned Kat (Animal Series - Mammals)

 

Bookmark - Posted Chimp (Animal Series - Mammals)