MissouriGreen

My last trip to the Botanical didn't just result in some butterfly photos. I was also able to grab some photos of birds, including a rather proud looking goldfinch.

Our bright fellow wasn't by himself, though. This female goldfinch, with more subtle coloring, was busy either trying to hack loose a leaf, or sharpening her bill.

I spotted my first monarchs this week, and managed to get a couple of photos of them and some of their friends at the Missouri Botanical Gardens.

Monarch butterfly:

I was finally able to capture an image of a Cabbage White. Though they are common, they're difficult to photograph because they move about more than most of the other butterflies. They're also a very aggressive butterfly, chasing away other types of butterflies and, on a couple of occasions, small birds.

The following dainty beauty is most likely a male Clouded Sulphur :

There's always room for one more Painted Lady photo:

At first I thought this butterfly was a male Taxiles Skipper, but the Butterflies and Moths of North America guide say that this species has never been spotted in Missouri. Running through all of the Skipper photos, I then found the Fiery Skipper, which is known to be in Missouri. The two are very similar, at least to someone new to butterfly identification.

A quick note to readers: if these photos seem a little washed out, it's because I use color management with my photos. What this means is that the photos are edited using a specialized "sRGB color profile" common to Windows, and then the color profile is inserted into the photo in order for the color to be properly managed in other environments. However, only Safari and Firefox 3 with a special color management add-on correctly interpret the profile on the Mac.

I have not been a frequent visitor to the Missouri Botanical Gardens this summer. I don't care for the crowds the Gardens attracts during the "tourist season". Though the number of people was still a healthy size yesterday, they also reflect the more easy going nature of the "off-season regulars".

The Gardens seem especially nice this year. Everything was healthy, lush, and the proper color, most likely due to this being the wettest year on record (to date) for St. Louis.

It's too early for the Monarchs; we should be seeing them in the next couple of weeks. However, there were plenty of Cabbage Whites and Painted Ladies.

The only reason I knew the name of the small, white (and very hard to photograph) Cabbage White is because of an excellent resource for butterfly identification: Butterflies and Moths of North America. You can look up your state, see what butterflies have been spotted in what county and then click through for pictures and more detailed identification information.

Returning to the Garden, the water lilies are in full bloom, which means, of course, dragonflies.

More photos can be seen in the Missouri Botanical Gardens image gallery.