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I’m back! Well, the truth is, I came back from our East Coast trip a couple of weeks ago but I’ve been spending the past few weeks catching up on work projects, chasing new ones, and taking care of a few pressing matters. I haven’t even gone through all the photos I took during our trip, and believe me, I’ve got my work cut out! So I’ll be sharing the beautiful sights I saw with my own eyes while visiting Washington D.C, Maryland, Delaware and Virginia over the next few weeks. Or many months, seeing how many pictures I took!
Today I’m taking part in the Macro Monday photo challenge. You can click on each photo for a larger view. If you like what you see, I encourage you to subscribe so you can enjoy the new photos I post a few times a week.
This is the first time I’ve seen a zebra swallowtail butterfly and I had to travel 3000 miles to do that. We have some tiger swallowtail butterflies here though. This zebra swallowtail was flying a lot more than he was stopping, so I had to chase it on foot for a while until I managed to take these few pictures. By the way, you’ll notice he’s missing part of his tail.
I took these pictures while visiting Monticello, Thomas Jefferson’s beautiful home and estate near Charlottesville, Virginia. If you haven’t been, it’s worth the visit. One of my favorite places in Virginia by far.
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Thank you very much!
I don’t think I’ve ever seen a butterfly like that. Gorgeous.
Welcome back! Have fun sorting through all those pictures. Ah, the life of a photographer!
Haha, it is a lot of fun to go through all those pictures. If only I had the time…
I admire when someone can get close to insects, they always fly away from me. What beautiful wings, the zebra markings are fantastic, but the color on the tail really makes them pop! It is sad when butterflies are injured.
Thank you. I’m much better at photographing bees than butterflies. I think the key to getting great pictures of them is a giant loom lens and a lot of time and patience. I don’t have any of those so chasing butterflies is my approach!
Such a beautiful butterfly! Gorgeous shots!
Thank you very much, Mary!
glad you got to visit Monticello – I especially love those huge gardens. It is a bit creepy, though, to imagine all of the slaves who worked in that place to keep it going, like a little kingdom.
Wonder how the poor swallowtail lost the end of its wing?
Thomas Jefferson was quite a fascinating character. He fought so hard when he wrote the declaration of independence to give ALL men equal rights. Once he got defeated, he pretty much gave up and continued to own over 100 slaves until his death. And he only freed 5 slaves when he died! Apparently he thought slavery was something to be dealt with future generations as he saw it too engrained into his own. But really, he was no role model for emancipation. An interesting character, who was much more of a scholar than a politician overall.
Such a beautiful butterfly, wonderfully captured! Welcome back!
Thank you very much! It feels good to be back.
Great shots! We loved that area a Virginal as well.
Thank you! It sure is a beautiful area.