Flowers

Flowers

Where there are butterflies, you will find flowers and plants. This morning I am sharing images of eleven species of plants that grew in The Butterfly Garden in St. Maarten. Most of them are new to me and I haven't had an opportunity to identify them yet. However, since so many of you enjoyed the butterflies, I assume just as many will enjoy the colourful flowers, especially those of us living in northern climes where we won't see flowers growing outside for a while yet.

Photos of the Day are for sale as stock photographs
and photographic enlargements.

They can also be purchased as slide shows

and/or wallpapers/screensavers.

Butterflies 2

Butterflies 2

Thanks for all the comments on the butterfly photos I shared yesterday. I didn't realize butterflies in March would be a welcome treat for many of you. Today I am sharing more photos taken at The Butterfly Farm in St. Maarten.

The first shows a tree nymph, the second is a blue morpho, and the third an orange tip. I've uploaded additional photos of these species as well as a scarlet swallowtail, Japanese swallowtail and a postman.

If you are interested in The Butterfly Farm, feel free to check their website at: www.thebutterflyfarm.com. They have photos which I used to identify the butterflies in the photos I've shared over the past two days.

Photos of the Day are for sale as stock photographs
and photographic enlargements.

They can also be purchased as slide shows

and/or wallpapers/screensavers.
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Butterflies

Butterflies

Our Western Caribbean cruise aboard Royal Caribbean's Navigator of the Seas left Fort Lauderdale on March 3. Our first two days were cruising at sea during which I took photos of the ship. I will share some of those photos at the end of this series.

Our first port was the island of St. Maarten which is actually owned by the French and Dutch. There is an international border that separates the two parts of the island and each side has different currencies, educational systems, airports, gas prices, etc. We booked a tour which took us to a butterfly farm for an hour or so then to Marigot, the French capital. Afterwards we had a tour of the other half of the island and ended up in the Dutch capital, Phillipsburg. Over the next few days I will share photos taken during that tour.

I am starting this series with photos of butterflies at The Butterfly Farm, our first stop. In this relatively small space, there are numerous species of butterflies and I photographed every one I could find. Of course, it is nearly impossible to focus on a butterfly while it is flying so all the photos show them on plants and flowers.

The photos this morning shows a monarch, a tree nymph, an emerald swallowtail (note the top wings in motion and the bottom are still in one of the images) and a tailed-jay butterfly. There are a couple that I haven't identified yet.

Photos of the Day are for sale as stock photographs
and photographic enlargements.

They can also be purchased as slide shows

and/or wallpapers/screensavers.

Birds of Florida

Birds of Florida

This will be the last in my Florida 2012 series for now. I've been sharing a few of my favourite bird photos for the last 11 days and tomorrow will begin sharing images taken during my Western Caribbean cruise.

As you have probably figured out, Citrus park is a bird photographer's paradise with many species that live and hunt within the park's boundaries. Today's photos show birds that I saw during my morning walks, which began before sunrise and usually lasted around 2 hours. Since Everything's a Picture I always found photographic subjects no matter where I went.

The first photo shows a little blue heron that was walking along the edge of a pond looking for food. This one was too skittish and flew off as soon as I started to slowly walk towards it.

The second shows a wood stork that flew directly overhead. When I see birds flying I usually try to capture a few images as they fly by. While this may seem easy, it takes a bit of practice to find the bird in the viewfinder, focus, then shoot a couple of images that are crisp. Both the bird and my camera are moving which makes it difficult. I've also uploaded an interesting image of a glossy ibis in flight to my Blog this morning.

It was unusual to see a white egret sitting in a tree even though it was fairly early. As I approached this one it flew away, but not before I captured a few images. If you're interested, I've uploaded more photos of anhinga, red cardinals, white egret and a gallinule to my Blog today.

Photos of the Day are for sale as stock photographs
and photographic enlargements.

They can also be purchased as slide shows

and/or wallpapers/screensavers.