Last Monday (the Columbus Day Holiday), Joan and I took a drive to Sachuest Point National Wildlife Refuge in Middletown Road Island.
This refuge, which is about a 45 minute drive from the house, is one of my favorite photographic haunts in winter when there are many ducks, including harlequins, in residence.
I suspected that early October would be too early for many overwintering birds and this proved correct. However, we were pleasantly surprised by the abundance of butterflies. We saw dozens of monarchs, presumably on their migration south, as well as smaller numbers of three or four other species.
Flowers for nectaring were few and far between… the most abundant being goldenrod… so I suspect that we were seeing the trailing edge of the migratory wave.
Photographically, I went equipped for birds, taking my Sigma 50-500mm lens. While this is not the ideal equipment for shooting butterflies, it is serviceable with subjects as large as monarchs as long as you are willing to accept some cropping of the final images. Thus, most of these shots represent about half of the full frame.
Here are a half dozen images from the afternoon:
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Great grabs despite not having the proper equipment – although I don’t think that’s ever a problem with you! Is there nothing you can’t photograph well? Babies, perhaps?
Comment by Just Joe — 16 October 2010 @ 7:28 PM