Monarch Butterfly – Wandering Dawgs

Lens Artists Photo Challenge #409 – Best Ever Images

August 22, 2026Posted in Birds, Butterflies, Photography, WildlifeTagged Best Ever Images, Egret, Landscapes, Lens-Artists, Monarch Butterfly, Orcas, Photo Challenge, St. Lucia, wood stork, World Photography Week54 Comments

We are happy to welcome Steve Hyde as our guest host for this week’s challenge. In honor of World Photography Week he is challenging us to share five pictures that show our love of photography – Our Best Ever Images.

Choosing five images from thousands of photos was not an easy task. I finally narrowed it down to the following images.

This is one of my favorite bird images of all time. There is a tree in our neighborhood next to a small pond where I often see birds hanging out. Several years ago I captured this Wood Stork and Egret perched on one of the limbs of the tree.

I have many Butterfly images that I have posted in the past. I dug through my archives and found this image of a Monarch Butterfly on a pink flower with a Black-Eyed Susans in the background.

Monarch Butterfly with Black Eyed Susans in the background

Up until a couple of years ago we always had a boat. We spent many happy hours with our children and grandchildren riding through the salt marsh in the saltwater rivers and creeks exploring the uninhabited islands and sandbars. One of of favorite places to go was through the narrow, winding creeks that the locals call the Mosquito Ditch.

I love to take wildlife photos. This pod of Orcas in Alaska is one of my favorites because we almost didn’t see any Oracas on our trip. We had taken two other wildlife cruises in other parts of Alaska and saw many different kinds of wildlife but we still hadn’t seen any Orcas. Our last opportunity to take another wildlife cruise was in Valdez. The scenery and wildlife was spectacular. All of a sudden this pod of Orcas surfaced right beside the boat. I was ready with my camera and was able to capture a few photos before they went on their way. This is one of my all time favorites because it almost didn’t happen.

My final image is my favorite landscape. I chose it because it brings back happy memories of our trip to St. Lucia to celebrate our 30th anniversary many years ago. Seeing this view each day from our villa was magical.

I enjoyed seeing all of your wonderful Over the Top responses to Egidio’s challenge last week. Thank you to everyone who joined the challenge.

Many thanks to guest hose Steve Hyde for this week’s fun challenge. If you would like to join the challenge please be sure to tag your post with Lens-Artists and include a link back to his post Lens-Artists #408: Best Ever Images.

Be sure to check back on Saturday, August 22 at noon eastern time when Ritva will be hosting the challenge.

You can keep up with all of our challenges by subscribing to the Lens-Artists team members websites: Tina, Patti, Ann-Christine, John, Sofia, Anne, Egidio, Ritva, Beth.

For information on how to join the Lens-Artists challenge please click here.

Every Day is a Gift

Lens Artists Photo Challenge #255 -Telling a story

July 1, 2023Posted in Butterflies, Nature, PhotographyTagged Lens-Artists, Monarch Butterfly, monarch caterpillar, Photo Challenge, Telling a story16 Comments

Patti has challenged us to focus on telling a story with our images.

My story is the life cycle of a Monarch butterfly. I haven’t been able to capture Monarch’s in my garden this year so these images are all from my archives.

*Female Monarchs lay their eggs on Milkweed*

*Caterpillars emerge from the hatched eggs and eat the leaves of a milkweed plant. Milkweed is all they eat.*

*The Monarch Caterpillar crawls to a place to form a chrysalis.*

*The caterpillar changes into a butterfly while inside the chrysalis.*

*A new adult Monarch emerges from the chrysalis*

Many thanks to Patti for the challenge Lens-Artists Challenge #255 – Telling a Story

Hungry Monarch Caterpillars

April 28, 2021Posted in Butterflies, Flowers, NatureTagged Butterfly Garden, Getting to Know You, Lens-Artists, milkweed for monarchs, Monarch Butterfly, monarch caterpillar, Photo Challenge34 Comments

Our Lens-Artists challenge from guest host Priscilla at Scillagrace is to “present a “Getting To Know You” post showing your relationship with a subject you’ve photographed. The subject could be a Person, a Place, a Culture, an Object…anything that has captured your attention, won your affection and taught you a thing or two.”

I’ve always enjoyed watching butterflies as they fly from one flower to another so I planted a butterfly garden several years ago. The more I watched them the more I wanted to learn about them. Monarchs frequently fly through the area to feed and lay their eggs on milkweed plants.

Monarch butterflies will feed on many different nectar plants. I have found Mexican Sunflowers to be a favorite for them and many other varieties of butterflies. By summer the garden will be covered with zinnias, Mexican Sunflowers, coneflowers, and other nectar plants.

Right now my garden is in it’s early stages with very few blooms. I’m afraid the few Monarch butterflies that have come by my garden have been disappointed in the slim pickings. The only nectar plant blooming right now is a single Mexican sunflower with multiple blooms. I’ve been watching the butterflies drink their fill.

Every year I enjoy getting to know the caterpillars before they move on to become butterflies. I’ve learned their job is to eat so they have the strength to transform into a chrysalis.

The only plant that Monarch caterpillars feed on is milkweed (Asclepias). This year the female Monarchs laid their eggs on just about every available milkweed leaf they could find. The eggs hatched into tiny caterpillars and for the second year in a row they have devoured every leaf on every milkweed plant.

I observed the first group of caterpillars for several days and observed how quickly they grew before crawling off to make their chrysalis.

The caterpillars like to spin their chrysalis in a safe place and I very rarely can find them. Hopefully all the these caterpillars will emerge as beautiful Monarchs.

Many thanks to Priscilla at Scillagrace.com for this Photo Challenge. Please be sure to visit her original post at Lens-Artists Challenge #145: Getting to Know You

Lens-Artists #113: Labor of Love

September 10, 2020Posted in Butterflies, Flowers, Nature, PhotographyTagged Butterfly Garden, Gulf Fritillary, Labor of Love, Lens-Artists, Mexican Sunflower, Monarch Butterfly, Photo Challenge, Skipper Butterfly, weekly smile, zinnias17 Comments

This week’s photo challenge comes from guest host Rusha Sams of Oh, The Places we See… We are asked to show images that represent a Labor of Love.

Planting my butterfly garden and maintaining it is a labor of love for me. By planting seeds and plants that attract pollinators such as butterflies and bees I am providing a place for them to feast on the nectar. At the same time I have a space in my backyard to relax and enjoy nature.

Here’s a few of the late summer critters that visited the garden recently. You can click on a picture to enlarge it.

Monarchs, Gulf Fritillaries, and Skipper butterflies have been all over the zinnias and Mexican Sunflower drinking up the nectar. Wasps, bees, and even a tiny grasshopper enjoyed the flowers, too.

It’s been a long, hot, dry summer and hopefully the flowers will continue to attract the butterflies and other critters for a little while longer.

I smile whenever I see these beautiful visitors to the garden. What made you smile this week?

Thanks to guest host Rusha Sams for this week’s Lens-Artists Photo Challenge #113 – A Labor of Love.

Also shared with Trent’s Weekly Smile.

This week in my Butterfly Garden

May 19, 2018Posted in Birds, Butterflies, Flowers, NatureTagged Butterfly Garden, garden, Monarch Butterfly, Painted Bunting, Spring, zinnias23 Comments

I’ve been digging in the dirt a lot lately trying to get my butterfly garden in shape after flooding from Hurricane Irma killed most of the plants last fall.

A few of the new plants are starting to bloom. The zinnias I planted from seed this winter are bursting with color.