Rock stars

Today I have another group of photos I took while staying at Mom and Dad's a couple of weeks ago, these from a walk in the woods I took with Kaylee. A stream cutting down the mountainside during Irene deposited a truckload of rocks and gravel by the sugarhouse I photographed a couple of times last year. As I wandered around along the rocks, I noticed some movement out of the corner of my eye, and was able to get some nice shots of a grasshopper against a fairly neutral background:





Based on my multiple viewings of A Bug's Life, I'm pretty sure this particular grasshopper is in the middle of molting:



The crickets I saw were a bit more skittish than the grasshoppers, making it a bit harder to get close enough for a decent shot. Still, I managed to pull off what I thought were a couple of good ones:





Finally, a snake that darted out from under a rock I was about to step on:



Unlike the garter snake I saw earlier this summer, this dark brown/black snake (a coloring I've never seen in person before) was rather camera shy. As a result, this is one of the few in-focus pics I got of it:

Rough around the edges

Just thought I'd share a few pics I took at my parents' place yesterday morning of a Cardinal that's obviously still waiting for all of his winter plumage to fill in:



His crest is definitely looking a mite sparse:





Kind of reminds you of a moth-eaten sweater, doesn't it?



It's not often I catch a bird looking straight at me, so this seemed like as good a shot to close with as any:

Monarchs

On my way back home from photographing the flood waters last Monday, I noticed a pair of female Monarch butterflies working the flowers out in front of St. James church. Nice sunny day, colorful flowers, butterfly... yeah, no way I wasn't taking pictures.

I love how the butterfly seems to be looking right at me in this one:



A wide shot of the pair:



A couple of shots of this butterfly's wings:





A bumblebee and a butterfly sharing real estate for a moment:



I really liked how the colors in this shot came out:



A good look at a butterfly using her proboscus to dine:



My best shot that day of a butterfly's wings; I wish there'd been a bit more light on the shot, but you take what you can get:



And in this last shot, I really liked how the wing was backlit—it reminded me of stained glass: