WillFolsom
07-Dec-2010, 05:47 AM
I recently visited my mother in Florida for a holiday get-together ("Thanksgiving Day"). It was a short visit, but I got up early and headed out to "Corkscrew Swamp" not too far from Naples, Florida (lower part of Florida on the Gulf of Mexico). I flew down to Florida with only one lens (a Nikon 70-300mm) expecting to spend any free time photographing birds. There were lots of white ibis and songbirds about, so I spend a fun 2 hours wandering around the swamps (they have a boardwalk that runs the length of the swamp). At the end, as I was heading to my car, I spotted several butterflies just off the parking area. The 70-300mm is not my choice for photographing butterflies, but I didn't have any alternatives. The results surprised me. I got an interesting shot of what I believe is a Giant Swallowtail (Papilio cresphontes) in flight. Still, very blurred, but a good pose. I thnk photographed what I believe is an Orange-barred Sulphur (Phoebis philea) feeding. Both species were moving from plant to plant fairly quickly and the 70-300mm actually allowed me to stay back a bit and try my luck. The lens is slightly slow to focus, so I had a lot of missed shots. But the few that I did get were sharp. I'm attaching two samples from that morning. Capturing the Orange-barred sulphur was especially nice, since it was a first for me. I would have posted these images earlier, but wanted to be positive about the identifications and all my contacts simply couldn't verify the Giant swallowtail... which is my best guess.