Wordless Wednesday – allow your photo(s) to tell the story.
Linda Schaub
FIFTY FAVORITE PARK PHOTOS
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- Parker noshin’ nuts
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- Fox Squirrel
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- Black Squirrel
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- Parker, my Park cutie!
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- Pekin Duck
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- Mallard Hybrid Duck
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- Midnight munchin’ nuts
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- Mute Swan
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- Goslings
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- Mama Robin
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- Seagulls on ice floe
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- Great Blue Heron
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- Parker chowin’ down
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- Mallard Duck
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- Northern Cardinal
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- Great Blue Heron (“Harry”) fishing for shad
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- Parker: shameless begging
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- Viceroy Butterfly
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- Great Blue Heron
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- American Goldfinch
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- Seagull
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- Robin baby (not fledged yet)
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- Mallard Ducks
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- Robins almost ready to fledge
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- Parker angling for peanuts
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- Robin fledgling
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- Parker making a point that he wants peanuts
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- Parker smells peanuts
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- Parker with a peanut
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- Red-Winged Blackbird
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- Seagull
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- Red-Bellied Woodpecker
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- Pekin Duck
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- Starling
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- Canada Geese family
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- Canada Goose and goslings
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- Red-Winged Blackbird
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- Parker says candy is dandy.
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- Tiger Swallowtail Butterfly
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- American Goldfinch
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- Hunny Bunny
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- Parker looking for peanuts
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- The pier just past sunrise
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- Mute Swan
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- Parker in the snow
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- Parker and a treat
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- Great Blue Heron
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- Me and my shadow (a/k/a Parker)
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- Fox Squirrel
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- Seagull
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- Canada Goose
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- Mallard Ducks
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- Mute Swan
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- Fox Squirrel – Parker
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- Northern Cardinal
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BADGES
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- 02-02-2018
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- 03-13-2018
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- 03-25-2018
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- 03-26-2018
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- Year #6!! 02/2019
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- 04-13-2019
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- 11-21-19
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Linda Schaub
WALKIN', WRITIN', WIT & WHIMSY 
Love Monarch Butterflies. Several of them pass through our yard in the Spring and the Fall. Beautiful pictures.
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Thank you Peggy. Me too and I was surprised to see this one on Memorial Day at Lake Erie Metropark – it seemed early in the year for a Monarch and it was a chilly morning. I was walking at the Park one early Fall morning several years ago and a slew of them passed me by and a few alighted on a bush, then they all continued on. I didn’t get time to pull the camera out of the pouch and I was the only one there – no one to say “did you just see that?” It’s never happened again. I was amazed to learn how far they travel in one day!
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I imagine when Monarch’s start their trek North or South they have stragglers that are late in finishing their journey. It is frustrating when a good picture escapes being captured in our camera lens.
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They must have been stragglers as you say Peggy. It wasn’t a huge group. I wish I had the compact digital around my neck but it just has a wrist loop. I always put peanuts and seeds in a bag I can hang off my crook of my arm so I can take pictures when I’m at Council Point Park.
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I had no idea nor far they could travel. Amazing!
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I was amazed too Ruth. I was double-checking to make sure I had not confused a Monarch with a Viceroy butterfly as they look similar and saw that little factoid so added it to my post.
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How rewarding to get these photographs.
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Yes, I was happy Anne. I was walking on the path and it fluttered right in front of me and landed on a bush. It was a very chilly morning to see it – usually I see them more when it’s sunny and later in the day.
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Monarchs are so cool. I have always wanted to see the migration in Mexico. Sounds like the trip for you! Terrific photos.
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Thanks Zazzy! I was lucky to see this Monarch flutter right near me so I followed it until it alighted on a bush. I would like to see that Monarch migration to Mexico too. You and I have probably seen the same pictures of hundreds of Monarchs clinging onto a tree branch – just gorgeous!
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Oh, flying but not creepy 🙂 Thanks Linda! (Altough, we have a friend who is crazy scarred of butterflies … ) One blog rule: you will never please them all …
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Yes, not so creepy Jeanine and a butterfly landed on my shoulder at the Park a year or so ago. Another walker was walking alongside me and said “here, hand me your camera and I’ll take a picture.” I said “by the time I get it out of the pouch, it will be long gone.” That butterfly stayed there for a good mile. We have an exhibit here at Dow Gardens which I’d like to see one day. It is a big building, very warm and filled with butterflies – they go everywhere. Your friend would not be happy, but if I come within a few feet of a spider or centipede I panic how I will kill it. I am very afraid of those critters. Yes, you cannot please them all – I agree!
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I wonder If they get air miles?
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If they did, they’d reap bigtime! I forgot how many miles they go for their journey to Mexico so Googled and found this:
“Flying up to 2,500 miles from the US and Canada where they breed, all the way down to the forests in central Mexico where they hibernate, the monarch’s migratory pattern is the most highly evolved of any known species of their kind.”
Pretty amazing – no wonder why some of their wings are so tattered. I read they tear them on thorny bushes, or thistles, which rip off pieces of their wings and they don’t grow back.
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Monarchs are a true force of Nature!
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Yes they are Wayne – I would love to see a large group of them in migration. I saw a small group once at the Park, but nothing like the huge groups that travel to Mexico when it gets cold.
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Yes,I’ve heard their numbers are so great that tree limbs snap from their weight!
I found this……….The Monarch Butterflies settle in the Oyamel fir tree forests which are situated west of Mexico City; along the eastern perimeter of the Mexican state of Michoacán, also bordering the State of Mexico. Once here, the butterflies cluster on the tree trunks and remain in the region for the winter.
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That’s amazing – they look so featherlight. How wonderful to see that – I would love to see that in person. I know I’ve seen photos of them in the clusters hanging down, surrounding the tree. You can’t even see the tree bark.
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Beautiful monarch photos! I will never forget the time we were vacationing in South Carolina. Our beach house was right in the path of the monarch migration. We were sitting in the pool one day and watching as hundreds of monarchs passed by overhead in a continuous stream. Beautiful!
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Thanks Laurie! I saw a group of monarchs, maybe 20-25 one morning at the Park in early Fall and was amazed seeing them flutter by, so I can’t imagine how beautiful the stream of hundreds of monarchs would be – what a sight to behold!
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Beautiful pictures…..I guess that’s how they get to Mexico, but it must be exhausting!
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Thanks Joni! I was lucky enough to have this butterfly cross my and I followed it where it alighted on a bush … 25 pics later that all looked the same I got back on the walking path . They migrate 2,500 miles when they go to Mexico which is amazing when you think of it.
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They are so beautiful, would be something to see so many flying past !
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They are Susan – I saw about 25 one morning go by me a few years ago, but to see the hundreds going by on their migration … that would be amazing to see.
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Amazing critters and you capture them so beautifully, Linda!
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Thank you Terri – this one flitted on by and headed for a bush, so I followed after it before it could take off! We have a volunteer garden in a park near me and they had orange Lantana planted in that garden one year. I kept going over to visit all Summer as Swallowtails and Monarchs were always on those plants.
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That is a lot of miles to travel
Wow
And such beautiful color you Haynes from the monarch
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I was surprised to learn that fact Yvette. I had no idea how many miles a Monarch traveled a day – I did know it was 2,500 miles one way to travel from North America to Mexico. And some of those beautiful butterflies have such tattered wings, you have to wonder how they make it.
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Yes / wonder indeed
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Amazing what those beautiful wings can do! Have you read Barbara Kingsolver’s novel “Flight Behavior”? I thoroughly enjoyed the story of a woman from Tennessee who witnesses thousands of monarchs landing in the woods near her home.
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Yes it is amazing – I knew they could travel 2,500 miles to get from North America to Mexico, but had no idea how many miles they traveled in one day! I did not read that novel Barbara and just put it on my list of books for retirement, the second recent recommendation from you. I’d like to read that and would love to see it! I’m amazed to see the butterflies with tattered wings and wonder how they made it?
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Wow – nice macros and thanks for sharing facts for us to learn. It is incredible how far they fly with such delicate wings.
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Thanks Shelley! I was lucky this Monarch just flitted by me and I followed it and got up close to the bush where it clung too. No flowers yet – this was Memorial Day weekend and it was chilly, so surprised to see it. I had no idea they went 50-100 miles per day … I know they go 2,500 miles one way to get to Mexico. Wow and some have tattered wings on top of it.
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It’s like the Monarch wanted to be in a blog post!! 🦋🦋🦋🦋🦋🦋🦋 Maybe it was the leader of the batch heading to your area? It’s incredible any of them have wings by the time they get here!
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Yes!! He said “oh, a lady with a camera – I’ll show her my best side!” I took pics of a butterfly at one of the Metroparks and the poor thing had nothing but tattered wings – I don’t know how it was able to fly.
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I love it!
It is amazing how they survive when their wings are tattered.
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I know – it is amazing and how can they flap their wings? I remember when I saw the Purple Spotted butterfly with almost no wings, I Googled to see if they regrew them and sadly they do not.
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🤔🤗
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Monarchs are so graceful and magnificent! Great shots, Linda! 😁
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Thank you Tom! What a treat to see this Monarch just flit on by, right near me. I took that as my cue to follow it, so I did. Perching on a flower would have been prettier, but I was happy to get so close to it.
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Pingback: Monarchs can travel between 50-100 miles a day! #Wordless Wednesday #They leave me in the dust! #Nature Photography Day – MobsterTiger
Beautiful photos. So detailed. We plant milkweed for monarch, but I have yet to get a good picture of one.
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Thank you Ally – I was lucky I could get so close to it. I wished it would have been sitting on a wildflower, but it liked the green plant. I was walking at three different places over the last two days; all of them had gardens with Milkweed in bloom – not a single butterfly.
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Lovely photos, Linda. We see a few pass through here, but are not on a regular migration route. Too bad, because we have tons of milkweed around here! I find it most interesting that it takes three generations to complete a full circle migration – three to go south, if I recall correctly, and the one that winters in Mexico goes back north. Now how the heck do they do that?!
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Thank you Eilene – I was lucky it was so close to me. It flitted on by and I hurried over to the bush. I just had a similar comment from Ally (Bean) about the milkweed that they plant it and butterflies don’t come. I was in three different places over the last two days and each place had lots of milkweed, but not a single butterfly. Now that is interesting about tag team migration – I had not heard that. I know they go into a torpor state over the Winter months while they are in Mexico, then they all awake at once when it is warmer. I have seen a video taken by a drone (that resembled a hummingbird) and the drone captured them awakening to begin the flight home. I can’t imagine how they could distinguish a generation to do this!
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Amazing and beautiful creatures, and very swift travelers!
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I was amazed how far they travel in one day – I am amazed they make that long journey as well. Too bad they don’t open butterfly buildings in each state where they can go for the Winter. We have an annual butterfly exhibit at Dow Gardens and on building they have heated up to a higher temp and release hundreds of butterflies – I guess like the Van Gogh Immersive Exprience. I would like to go one day to see it.
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Pingback: Monarchs can travel between 50-100 miles a day! #Wordless Wednesday #They leave me in the dust! #Nature Photography Day – Urban Fishing Pole Lifestyle
When you retire you need to be a professional photographer! What beautiful pictures. ❤️
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Thank you Diane! I used to like taking photos years ago and then put that hobby aside, then with blogging I started back again; I’m so happy to be taking photos again. It’s easier this time around with digital photos … first time around it was prints only and Kodachrome film. We’ve come a long way and I’d be in the poor house as I take way too many pics!
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