The Painted Lady Butterfly

 Accenting the Fall Flowers

The warm seasonal temperatures of this fall in 2011 have been such a delight to just get out with the camera and see what shows up.  Over the last few weeks, I've noticed a large number of Painted Lady butterflies that are highlighting the sunflowers along my walkway.  All I've had to do was just set up my D90 with the Nikon 150mm 2.8 macro lens on the tripod and click away.  

The Painted Lady butterfly, Vanessa cardui, also known as the thistle butterfly or cosmopolitan is one of the most widespread of all butterfly species because it is found in temperate and tropical areas across the globe. 

The adult Painted Lady's open orange wings extend  around 2 1/2 inches, 5-6 cm and are accented with white, blue and black circles.  

When folded, the underside of the wing is a duller shade of gray and brown with the leading edge accented in a white bar and smaller white spots.  Four small eyespots are visible on the hind wing. 

 

Even with pieces missing from this Painted Lady's wings, it seems to have no trouble maneuvering and flying. 

Painted Lady on a Rabbit Bush, Chrysothamnus nauseosus, that is native to the Great Basin Desert and blooms from August through October.    

Since the life cycle of the Painted Lady butterfly is just a short two weeks, I will enjoy as much time as possible with these amazing creatures that flutter across my yard visiting each sunflower that is still in bloom.

For additional information:

http://nathistoc.bio.uci.edu/lepidopt/nymph/plady.htm

http://www.earthsbirthday.org/butterflies

Photographs Make Great Gifts

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What an exciting and interesting photo-adventure this day has been.  I love it when I am drawn to an area and not knowing what to expect I get treated to new experiences. 

Sign up and follow my blog to see where my next photo-adventure will be!

Photography places me in the moment where I can share that moment in time. It becomes a life story as represented by my interaction with the scene. The happiness and beauty or the sorrow and strife; how I focus leaves a lasting impression that might touch the viewer on a spiritual level.

 "Reflecting Nature's Artistry" 

Many of these images are available on my website:

 http://www.bonnierannald.com/ 

For custom matted and framed images:
Off The Wall

No images on this blog are within Public Domain or are available for free download. 

 All rights reserved, world-wide and images protected by Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA). All photography, graphics, text, design, and content is copyrighted by Bonnie Rannald and should not be copied, down-loaded, transferred and re-created in any way without the express consent, in writing to Bonnie Rannald. For information on Bonnie Rannald licensed, right-managed images, please submit a written request.

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Attracting Birds, Bees and Butterflies

Flowering Plants in a High Desert Yard

Trying to accent a yard in the Great Basin Desert with attractive wildlife friendly plants has been a learning experience of trial and error for me.  The Great Basin is the largest desert in the U.S. and is considered a "Cold Desert" due to its northern location and higher elevations that average between 4,000 feet 1219.2 m to 6,500 feet 1828.8 m.  The more southern area of the Great Basin where I am located averages less than 7 inches 17.78 cm of perception a year.  Nestled between the Wassuk and Gillis mountain ranges, the winters can be cold with temperatures reaching below freezing and the summers can be harsh with the sun shining down through the clear blue sky. 

Trying to grow the usual flowers and shrubs that adorn most yards just ends in disappointment when the plants struggle for survival and eventually die.   However being a wildlife photographer, I wanted a yard that was attractive for the various birds and insects and would offer me a place to relax and enjoy the scenery. 

  Pygmy Blue Butterfly on Rosemary Blossom

The flowers and shrubs that thrive and bring so much color and various forms of wildlife to my yard are as follows:

One of the most unusual flowering shrubs is the Caesalpinia gilliesii or commonly known as Bird of Paradise Bush.  A member of the legume family, the Bird of Paradise Bush is native to Argentina.  It thrives in my area, especially with some extra water during the hot summer.  The yellow flowers attract hummingbirds and butterflies.

Apricot Globe Mallow is an annual flowering plant native to the southwestern desert. Growing along washes, the orange flowers provide pollen and nectar for bees, hummingbirds and butterflies.  It is also a staple in the diet of the Desert Bighorn Sheep. 

The deep blue Salvia of the mint family thrives in full sun and will keep flowering with a little extra water during the dry spells.  It is a favorite with the hummingbirds and butterflies, but repels deer and rabbits.

Gaillardia or blanket flower accents the planting beds with large daisy like blooms.  A sun and heat loving plant, the blanket flower attracts hummingbirds, butterflies and small birds that eat the seeds.

 

Sunflowers are my favorite flowers and just happen to do so well here that I have to thin them out.  They come up all over the yard from seeds blown by the wind or dropped by wildlife.  The seeds are a food staple for birds and ground squirrels.  Bees and butterflies are drawn to the flowers and I have even watched hummingbirds visit the flowers.

Desert Willows are native to the Mojave Desert. They reach a height of 25 feet, 7.6m and grow along washes at elevations between 1000-5000 feet, 305-1524 meters.  I brought some small Desert Willow transplants from my yard in Las Vegas and they are thriving here!  The hummingbirds, moths and butterflies are drawn to the nectar.   What a wonderful tree that decorates the landscape while providing shade and shelter.

I have many other different varieties of plants in my yard including junipers, elms, various grasses and an almond tree. However, the plants that I've focused on in this post are the summer flowering kind.  A few years ago, the yard was certified by the National Wildlife Federation as a wildlife friendly habitat.  So I can just sit back, relax and enjoy the outdoors whenever I feel the urge.

For additional reading:

http://bonnierannald.blogspot.com/2010/09/xeriscaping-in-high-desert.htm

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What an exciting and interesting photo-adventure this day has been.  I love it when I am drawn to an area and not knowing what to expect I get treated to new experiences. 

Sign up and follow my blog to see where my next photo-adventure will be!

Photography places me in the moment where I can share that moment in time. It becomes a life story as represented by my interaction with the scene. The happiness and beauty or the sorrow and strife; how I focus leaves a lasting impression that might touch the viewer on a spiritual level.

 "Reflecting Nature's Artistry" 

Many of these images are available on my website:

 http://www.bonnierannald.com/ 

For custom matted and framed images:
Off The Wall

No images on this blog are within Public Domain or are available for free download. 

 All rights reserved, world-wide and images protected by Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA). All photography, graphics, text, design, and content is copyrighted by Bonnie Rannald and should not be copied, down-loaded, transferred and re-created in any way without the express consent, in writing to Bonnie Rannald. For information on Bonnie Rannald licensed, right-managed images, please submit a written request.

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Spirals

Interesting Shapes in Art and Nature

With the coming of spring, the photography world is in transition from the harshness of the cold, bleak winter landscape to a kaleidoscope of colors, sights and shapes. As in autumn, the natural light of spring is more subtle and pleasing to the camera because of the earth’s proximity to the sun. There is an abundance of activity among the wildlife, as preparations are being made for a rebirth of the species. As a nature photographer, I find the shapes in the landscape as interesting as the colors.

 


One shape that is found to reoccur in many natural objects is the spiral. Look closely at the new growth of many flowers and you will discover a spiral in the tightly woven petals.






The spiral can also be found in the design of a pinecone and in the arrangement of sunflower seeds.

The spiral shape is nature’s way of providing the most efficient design for growing objects. It allows flower petals and leaves to receive the most exposure to sunlight and is the easiest path for rain to travel to reach the plant’s root system. The spiral shape in sunflower seeds allows for more space within the seeds without over-crowding.

The shape of the spiral is so significant in the natural world that it can be found almost everywhere. Good examples are ram’s horns, flowers, the Milky Way galaxy, fingerprints, DNA, and various sea shells, including the nautilus. The mathematical genius, Pythagoras, discovered the mystical shape of the spiral in the fifth century. Through this discovery, the Golden Ratio evolved and has been used in architecture, art and music since the Aztec and Greek civilizations.

 


The golden ratio is 1/1.618 or “phi”. A golden rectangle has the golden ratio and when squared, leaves a smaller rectangle behind which has the same golden ratio as the previous rectangle. This squaring can go on ad infinitum. A golden spiral is formed when a curve is connected through the corners of the concentric rectangles.




 

Basic composition of the “rule of thirds” in art design is derived from the golden rectangle. The 35mm format in photography comes closest to this ratio.

Another form of composition is the golden triangle, which is an isosceles triangle with two short sides and one long side, where the ratio of long to short equals the golden ratio. In my opinion, in photographic composition, the rule of thirds works best with horizontal scenes and the golden triangle with the vertical. 

As photographer, I have been drawn to scenes that I felt compelled to re-create on film. One reporter wrote that I had an intuitive awareness of scenes that would photograph well. As I look back on my early days of photography, I recognize that I was attracted to these scenes because the golden ratio or golden triangles were included within the image.

If you watch closely throughout the growing months, you will come to recognize the natural occurrence of these mystical shapes throughout the landscape.

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What an exciting and interesting photo-adventure this day has been.  I love it when I am drawn to an area and not knowing what to expect I get treated to new experiences. 

Sign up and follow my blog to see where my next photo-adventure will be!

Photography places me in the moment where I can share that moment in time. It becomes a life story as represented by my interaction with the scene. The happiness and beauty or the sorrow and strife; how I focus leaves a lasting impression that might touch the viewer on a spiritual level.

 "Reflecting Nature's Artistry" 

Many of these images are available on my website:

 http://www.bonnierannald.com/ 

For custom matted and framed images:
Off The Wall

No images on this blog are within Public Domain or are available for free download. 

 All rights reserved, world-wide and images protected by Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA). All photography, graphics, text, design, and content is copyrighted by Bonnie Rannald and should not be copied, down-loaded, transferred and re-created in any way without the express consent, in writing to Bonnie Rannald. For information on Bonnie Rannald licensed, right-managed images, please submit a written request.