The day is almost over but wait … there’s still time to post a macro!

Featured: a Long-tailed Skipper (Urbanus proteus) on a Butterfly Bush (Buddleja dividii).
Funny story: I bought the Butterfly Bush a few years ago and kept it in a pot on our deck for a long while. Although its blooms were profuse, I never saw any butterflies on it. Then we decided to plant it in our garden area (it was getting way too big for a pot). A year goes by. It blooms. Still no butterflies.
Until yesterday.
This skipper was so focused on feeding that I was able to take several photos.
Good things come to those who wait.
28 responses to “Macro Monday”
Is a skipper a butterfly or a moth? I don’t suppose it really matters. It made me do a double take as it appears the size of a starling on that flowering bush. I love photos that surprise just because it takes your brain a few seconds to realize what it’s seeing.
On the other hand, we used to get Luna moths in Shell Knob and their wing spread is easily the size of a large hand.
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The skipper is a butterfly and on the small side. The flowers on the Butterfly Bush are very small so it makes sense that, in contrast, the skipper looks as big as a bird :-) I’m pretty sure I caught (with my iPhone camera) a Luna moth a few years ago at my workplace. I’ll dig around in my archive for that. It had positioned itself by a side entrance and tolerated a lot of photographs that day ;-)
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Wonderful to see the butterfly!! :)
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Thank you, Amy! We were really happy to see the butterfly bush (finally) being used :-)
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Fabulous! I have tried to take butterfly pictures, but they are way too fast!
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Thank you, Janis! Usually they are too fast for me as well, but, fortunately for me, this little guy was just too busy feeding :-)
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Always great when that happens. Nice photo too.
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Thank you, John! It’s so rare when a butterfly will “sit” still long enough for a photo.
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Success at last!!
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Indeed! :-)
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🙂
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Wonderful photo, Marie. I bet you were excited!
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Thank you, Merril. Yup, I couldn’t believe the butterfly ignored me … lol :-)
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You’re welcome. A social butterfly.😂
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lol …
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🙂
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Beautiful shot and yes, good things come to those who wait… and for those who follow your blog ;-)
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Aw, what a nice thing to say! I love sharing these happy moments :-)
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I always say what I mean :)
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Yes, you do!
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💞
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Aw … xo
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💞
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Wow, that is so cool. Great shot, Marie. What does macro mean, asked the dummy?
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Thank you, Luanne, and you are not a dummy. Macro means “extreme close-up.” My iPhone camera has built-in software and lens that enable me to get really close to a subject and capture its detail. In this case, I couldn’t get too close without scaring off the butterfly so I took a bunch of photos, selected one that kept its detail when I expanded it (instead of getting blurry or pixelated), and then I “cropped” the photo. Hmmm … you just wanted a definition for macro, right? lol …
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Wow, that is interesting. I had no idea it meant that, and it’s cool that you figured out how to do it in this case!
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Practice, practice, practice. Thank goodness photos are digital. I can allow myself to make a lot of mistakes 😁
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Yeah, I don’t like things I can’t revise hahaha.
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