Don't Bother Chasing the Butterflies

Over the past seven summers of photographing insects in my backyard I have learned a variety of techniques for getting pictures of such a tiny, unpredictable subject. I have learned how to observe the behavior of the insect, and I have learned a bit about their temperaments, what I can and cannot do to avoid upsetting them and making them fly away or flee by some other method. Not that it always works, I still constantly spook them, but I have also learned when it's not worth persisting with a particular insect; I know when the effort is futile more than I used to. Learning all of this has helped me to get better pictures, but it has also helped me to avoid wasting my time for pictures that are just not going to be taken successfully. Sadly, I haven't really learned anything from my experiences that will help me get better pictures of butterflies. I have learned one thing about photographing butterflies, though, and that is, don't bother chasing them. I always want to, when they flit from one area of the yard to another and then I can see that they have landed on a flower 'over there.' But I know now that it's just never going to work. I admit that I still try it sometimes, but for the most part I just remind myself, "don't chase after the butterflies. You're not going to get that picture." Very rarely if I stand in one place and wait the picture, or rather the butterfly, will come to me. But while I can get a picture of most specimens of some other orders, I don't think I get even a single shot of more than 10% of the butterflies I see in my backyard. And that's a generous estimate.

So now you are probably thinking that I am going to say that today was a rare day indeed, and I managed to get pictures of a whole bunch of butterflies!

Well, sort of:

 

 There was this one. I can't tell you what species it was.

 But look, I got a picture of it flying!

See!

Then there was this one. I confess, I chased it a little, about three feet. I think it's a pearl crescent. I can't really tell, though.

Finally!

 Gray hairstreak

 Then, there's this one. Sort of cooperative, but not really.

 I think it's a comma.

 I didn't get a great shot of it, but I did get okay shots of both sides of the wings, so that's something.

Honestly, caterpillars are much easier to photograph. Like today's Backyard Bug of the Day:

 Banded tussock moth. I don't know for sure, but this might be a new species for me. In this color variant, anyway. But at this point, I can't always remember what I have seen, and what I have only seen in books.

Other Bugs:

 Assassin bug nymph on one blade of grass, stilt legged bug on another.

 Stilt legged bug

 Another monarch caterpillar!

White hickory tussock moth caterpillar dancing on a thread:

 Okay, caterpillars are not always easy to photograph.

 Another ailanthus webworm moth eclosed today. It flew from the 'nest' as I approached, and landed on a nearby bush.

 And there are still caterpillars in various stages in the nest.

I think this year this has been the most common species of dragonfly in my backyard:

 I failed in my attempt to identify it. It looks a lot like several species in my books, but not exactly like any of them.

In addition to this dragonfly that sat so patiently while I took a lot of pictures of it, there were a lot of dragonflies cruising in the air above the backyard. It had to be more than one species, too, because they were not all the same size. I love when they swarm like that. Usually I can't even see what it is that they are hunting, it's usually too small for me to tell, but it's fun to watch them fly.

Tree cricket:

Woolly bear caterpillar, aka Isabella tiger moth

Arachnid Appreciation:
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Do you recognize that caterpillar profile? Don't worry, the spider did not attack it, it zoomed off on its thread to somewhere else.