All My Blogs

There are 29 species of bumble bee that are endemic to Alberta.  They all belong to the genus Bombus.  This one appears to be Bombus moderatus , the white-tailed bumble bee.  If you look closely at the bee's hind end, you will see that it is distinctly white. These bees do not make large nests, usually having no more than 200 workers.  I photographed this bee in Leduc; they are fairly abundant in the southern half of Alberta and eastward in to Saskatchewan.   Bumble bee workers feed the queen and support the colony.  As the colony grows into late summer and early fall, the workers produce new queens and drones.  It is the workers that determine which larva will become a queen.  They feed it a special diet of honey and royal jelly.  A fertilized egg produces female worker bees and an unfertilized egg will produce a male bee called a drone. The existing hive will die out come winter.  The drones will mate with the young queens who hav...

Piano keys butterfly,  Heliconius melpomene   Fort Lauderdale Butterfly World I have written a series of 8 blogs on how to photograph butterflies.  You can find them at these links: 1.  Where and when to find butterflies. 2.  Orientation of butterflies to get better shots. 3.  Camera, Lens, and exposure choices for photographing butterflies. 4.  How to get close to butterflies without disturbing them. 5.  Butterfly gardens - a great place to photograph butterflies. 6.  Identifying butterflies. 7.  Photographing moths. 8.  Using flash to get better photographs of butterflies. Other recent blogs on butterflies Essex skipper Margined white butterfly Silvery blue butterfly Admiral butterflies Giant atlas moth I have dozens of posts on butterflies dating back many years.  Search for them on my various blog sites. Thanks for looking. Eric Svendsen      www.ericspix.com

Sulphur butterfly photo taken with 70-200 f/2.8 lens, 1.7x teleconverter, and flash. Flash is one of the best ways to improve an image.  It allows you to shoot when the light is poor, it improves contrast and saturation, it removes or reduces shadows significantly, and it can freeze action in some circumstances. Although flash is not needed for many situations, I think you will find that it makes a difference.  To explore this, take two photos, one with flash and one without.  Compare them to verify things.  It may be as simple as turning a flash on, usually a flash requires a few specific considerations for it to work well and improve a shot to its potential.  Below I list some of those issues. Built-in flashes typically are neither strong enough or located high enough above the camera to adequately expose an image.  A long lens and a close subject will mean that the lens actually blocks some of the light producing a lens silhouette.  And even if the ...

Great ash sphynx moth.  Ten lined hawk moth.  Polyphemus moth Elephant hawk moth.  Eyed sphynx moth.  Garden tiger moth. Ok, Ok.  Moths aren't butterflies.  And truthfully, they don't behave like butterflies in a few very important ways.  First of all, they tend to lie with their wings flat against their bodies while butterflies keep them vertical above their bodies.  A lot of this is due to their habits where butterflies are diurnal (during the day) and moths nocturnal (during the night) or even crepuscular (dawn and dusk).  Butterflies keep their wings vertical to help radiate heat while moths keep them pressed against their bodies to help keep heat in.  In both cases it is a form of thermoregulation designed to maintain internal temperatures within an optimal range. Moths also tend to be less conspicuously coloured than butterflies and have patterns and colours to better blend into their surroundings.  They are hard to find durin...

The painted lady butterfly is found on every continent except Australia and Antarctica. Identifying butterflies can range from very easy to near impossible, and rarely impossible as it ends up being a new species.  Caterpillars can also be identified but tends to be difficult as information on that topic is not always available or reliable.  I intend on sticking with adult identification as this is where I have had success and can make a few relevant suggestions. Field guides are an important source for aiding identification and I have several of them.  Mine tend to be by province (British Columbia) or region (Pacific Northwest), which makes things a bit more difficult if I am out of that area.  Fortunately, many species have a broader range than the limitations of the texts and I find they help even if I am some distance away.  Another issue is that not all species are covered as minor ones may be excluded and there are always the accidentals to contend with....

Giant owl butterfly, Victoria Butterfly Garden, Victoria, BC Butterfly gardens and conservatories are popular tourist attractions and can be found in many cities throughout North America.  In Canada there are four and at least another sixteen in the states.  Then there are the exhibits at zoos.  These are places you can go and walk amongst some of the largest and most beautiful Lepidoptera there are on the planet.  The price is reasonable and there are dozens of species and thousands of butterflies flitting about.  And the best part is that they are used to people - one may even land on you! Some may scoff at the notion of shooting here because you are not in the wild and doing the groundwork required to capture photos of these marvellous creatures.  It's like shooting fish in a barrel, or in this case, butterflies in a room, but isn't that exactly the point?  It is a great place to practice your craft and to play with settings and compositions in real...

Left:  Me with my camera and long lens.  Right:  Western Tiger Swallowtail, 2014, Vancouver Island. Butterflies, like all insects, have two compound eyes, each eye containing thousands of ommatidia, each one ending with a facet at the eye's surface.  Each eye sends a tiny image to the lepidopteran brain and the group of them work together to give the organism some context as to its surroundings.  However, there is no ability to discern objects beyond colour and movement. Although they can see almost completely around them, their perception is limited to motion and colour.  Their colour vision covers a wider gamut than ours does as they can pick up shades of ultraviolet.  Many flowers, appearing white to us, have stunning details when viewed with UV sensitive media.  The colours of many flowers is one of the cues that leads butterflies to the waiting blossoms.  Motion is a different story. Quick motions are picked up immediately, but so are ch...

Queen butterfly in Palm Springs, 2023.  Nikon D7100 with 55-300 mm lens @ 300 mm.   You don't need top end equipment to get good photos of butterflies, and you don't even have to have a lot of knowledge on its settings and use, but it all helps.  Good equipment allows for improved images when cropping or enlarging.  Knowledge of its use improves the chances of getting sharp images devoid of noise, blur, or off-exposures. At the very minimum, I would suggest a DSLR or mirrorless camera as the larger sensors tend to produce better images.  There are those who would say that many a compact or even smartphone camera can create equally good images, and I would agree.  But I have to say that, shot for shot, the former cameras will out perform the latter. Long lenses are a must, but again I have taken a great many good butterfly photos with shorter lenses.  Out of 71 butterfly photos in my "good" collection, 83% were taken with 300 mm (relative) focal le...

Several photos of two fritillary butterfly species I recently photographed. Who doesn't love butterflies?  I have hundreds of butterfly photos.  I have them enlarged in my home, I have sold them, and I love taking them.  Over the years I have developed a bit of a knack for getting good photos - none perfect, but enough to satisfy me.  I also enjoy figuring out the species and reading up on their life habits.  I hope to be able to convey some of what I have learned to you. Butterflies tend to stand with their wings closed, unlike moths that, when grounded, keep their wings pressed flat against their bodies.  This can make it difficult to get a good shot of the upper wing surface.  However, butterflies also use their wings to both gain heat through solar radiation and to lose heat if their body temperatures get too high.  They do this by spreading their wings to let the sun warm them up (basking) or by gently fanning them to allow air currents to co...

Silvery blue butterfly on Common Blanketflower. I love photographing butterflies.  Interesting insects with often spectacular colours and patterns intermingling with equally colourful flowers.  But where are they?  If you live in an urban jungle, or even in the suburbs, chances are that you only ever see the ubiquitous cabbage white.  There are usually better places to go than your backyard or neighbourhood park. Time of year and day also makes a difference.  Butterflies usually pupate in the spring or early summer and mate to lay eggs.  The eggs are laid on plants that the larvae can eat.  The caterpillars feed voraciously and moult 4 or 5 times until they are ready to pupate.  Where the pupae are highly depends on the species as some will burry themselves in the soil before pupating while others will form a chrysalis attached to a branch to wait out the coming winter.  The best time to see the adults after they emerge. The difference betwee...

Essex skipper photographed in Leduc, Alberta. There are about 70 species of skipper across Canada.  Alberta showcases around 48 of them.  A skipper is a Lepidopteran, but is slightly different from both moths and butterflies.  It has a few characteristics common to both such as clubbed antennae and vertically held wings (butterflies) and small head with a shortened body (moths).  Unlike moths though, the skippers do not have a connection between fore and hind wings (called a frenulum - how's that for the word of the day?).  This they have in common with butterflies. I photographed the Esses skipper yesterday in Leduc.  While visiting Cypress Hills, I photographed two other species of the same family.  You can see them below. Two skipper species I photographed in Cypress Hills, Alberta. Most skippers have a pair of hooked antennae as shown in the image below.  I have photographed skippers in the Lower Mainland, Cypress Hills, Leduc, and Edmonton....

Margined wite butterfly taking nectar from thistle flower Normally, at least for my experience, an adult butterfly is going to look a certain way.  However, the margined white species seems to have an odd characteristic.  They tend to look a little different depending upon what time of year they pupate. The summer form, shown above, is the pure white variety.  No spots, no black tips, just white.  In fact, this is the whitist butterfly I have ever seen.  Its like it took a similarly sized sulphur butterfly and bleached the entire thing to be devoid of colour.  In the spring time, should the butterfly emerge then, it has black tips on the forewing.   Another interesting variation is that butterflies from higher elevations tend to be darker.  Humidity also seems to play a bit of a role.  Then, of course, there is the difference between males and females. Males are more likely to be pure white while females tend to have the aforementioned b...

Silvery blue butterfly taking nectar from a Blanketflower. I have seen a lot of butterflies this last week.  Yesterday, I was out photographing butterflies with my long lens and managed to get at least 5 species, possibly more if some of the fritillaries were not the same species.  A sulphur, a few whites, many fritillaries, a blue, and a few skippers.  I have included a photo of the others below. Some of the butterflies I photographed yesterday. Today, out for a walk with my wife on our anniversary (37 years), I saw another 4 species of butterfly I did not see yesterday.  Today it was a police car moth (yes, that's its name), a wood nymph, a mustard white, and another skipper.  This time, though, I didn't have my camera.   If you think that is all a little much, there is no way you can see 10 or so different species of butterfly in just two days, think again.  There are some 310 species of Lepidoptera found in just Alberta alone.  An excelle...

This is the best photo of a yellow-bellied sapsucker I have taken so far. It's always nice seeing a bird with lots of colour.  Often, though, it is just a flash of brilliant hues that are witnessed and then the moment is gone.  Ethereal.  And often enough not everyone in a group can witness the juncture.  It is difficult to appreciate the beauty of nature when it is seldom seen.  This is where having a camera comes in handy. My friends, Ron and Judy in Lloydminster, have an amazing number of birds flying about their farm.  I had been awoken several morning by the sharp burst of sound coming from a woodpecker drumming away at a log or piece of metal.  I have looked for the culprit to no avail and my hosts were similarly stymied.  And then, one afternoon, a flash of colour and the familiar rat-a-tat-tat on pole everything came into place. My camera at the ready, I took two dozen or more photos of the birds.  Yes, birds; there was more than one....

A house wren with a moth - waiting for me to move along and return to the nest. I have never seen a house wren before.  They are somewhat ubiquitous in North America from the mid latitudes of the western provinces and from southern Ontario through the Maritimes down to Central America.  People have wren houses.  You may hear them singing ( click here ).  Even great poets such as Wordsworth have attributed prose to them.  But have you actually ever seen one? The house wrens has been broken into two separate species, the Northern and Southern House Wren.  There are also a few endemic variants found on some select Caribbean islands.  The one photographed above is the northern variety.  The southern species lives mostly in South America, many of them being year-long residents.   There are some interesting facts about house wrens.  I quite like the one about small parasites such as mites that infect the nesting cavities that they raise t...

Eric, Kathryn, Judy, and Ron.  And our dog, Murphies. We had a great time visiting Lloydminster.  Ron and Judy Plett, friends of ours now for almost 40 years, have been excellent hosts as we camped out with them at their home.  The best part has been connecting again since the last time we saw them and enjoying their hospitality.  We set up our RV on their family farm and have been busy with sharing in their lives. Ron and I have been taking walks and driving around discussing whatever crosses our minds.  And, of course, looking for birds, or any other creatures that happen to cross our paths.  While visiting, I have managed to get some pretty great shots on their farm, my favourite being a yellow bellied sapsucker which you can see below.  I also photographed a house wren and song sparrow on their farm a host of other birds around Lloyd.  The coolest one was the eared grebe that I did a blog on yesterday ( link here ).  Male yellow bellied s...

Eared grebe on Neale Lake, Saskatchewan, near Lloydminster. I don't see these birds very often.  I was surprised to see two of them yesterday while visiting some water bodies just east of Lloydminster where I am staying.  Their dark feathering combined with their contrasting "ears" (cranial tuffs of feathers) and stark red eyes makes them visually engaging.  Yet, I have never managed to get a really good shot of one, little lone one with chicks. Eared grebes do not adhere to my understanding of what grebes do.  These guys tend to live in brackish waters, with or without fish, and feed mostly on invertebrates.  They prefer shallow waters where they may just dip their heads under the surface or dive to the bottom where they peck at any invertebrates they can find.  That certainly does not fit into the behaviours I see with red-necked grebes and western grebes. One of the reasons I don't see much of them is because they tend to live on the prairies where they ...

Some of the birds I photographed while visiting Bud Miller Park in Lloydminster, Alberta. Cute does not begin to describe the Franklin's gull chicks I witnessed at the trout pond at Bud Miller Park in Lloydminster, Alberta.  Adorable was more like it, with a dash of OMG and being gobsmacked.  And then there was the discovery of the yellow-shafted flicker, which I wrote a blog on yesterday ( click here ).  If all that wasn't enough to get my attention, there were the blackbirds, geese, gulls, chickadees, and sparrows that were commonly seen.   One of the great things about seeing birds in parks is that they are acclimated to people.  They don't seem to mind our presence.  In some cases, I had to back away because the bird was too close to me to get a photo of.  That's not something that's commonly a problem for wildlife photographers.  I love my long lens that I use for such occasions, but the truth is you can get some pretty good shots with s...

Top and left:  Yellow-shafted flicker.  Bottom and right:  Red-shafted flicker. Having lived in BC for the last 38 years, I have seen a lot of Northern Flickers, but they have all been of the red-shafted variety.  Yesterday, while visiting Lloydminster, on the border between Saskatchewan and Alberta, I saw my first yellow-shafted one.  The difference was quite stark.   Male red-shafted flickers have a red moustache while the yellow-shafted variety have a black moustache.  There also seems to be a bit of crown colouration differences, although I don't know how consistent this is between groups or plumage variations.  The main difference, for both males and females, is the stark colour of the feather shafts which is yellow in one and red in the other.  Although this difference is a little hard to see when the bird is sitting, it becomes more obvious when flying if you can get a good look at it from underneath. The birds both belong to the ...

The arrows point to the injured area of the snake that led to its death. I am always on the lookout for snakes – not because I fear them, but rather because I find them wonderful and amazing creatures.   I found one today, but not in the good way.   Some children were looking at what appeared to be a stick until I realized it was a dead snake.   They found it and brought it to a washroom/shower building at the main lake in Cypress Hills Provincial Park. They wondered why it had died and there was some conjecture such as an animal did it, it was from natural causes, it was old.   But the tiny little bit of blood at the mouth and the odd way its neck was bent/dented told a different story.   It had been a victim of blunt trauma, likely from someone’s foot, and likely on purpose. It is hard to know what happened for sure, but knowing that some people hate snakes and others are just plain mean, I can well imagine the chain of events.   The snake, trying to ...

Plains garter snake I caught in Lloydminster.  Top center - a dead one I found at Cypress Hills. I have never been bitten by a snake before.  Well, that's not quite true.  I have a corn snake at home and it did once get a hold of me.  But today was the first time that a wild snake ever laid teeth on me, and it drew blood.  I can't say that I am very surprised by that.  Small snakes tend to not be very aggressive, and this was the largest snake I have ever caught - of any species.  I had heard that large garters can be aggressive and bite.  Today, I can confirm that hypothesis. It actually lunged for me a couple of times, missing my nose by a few inches once and other bodily parts other times.  I held it for a few minutes and then released it back where I found it.  Although I often catch snakes, they always get released and I handle them gently, even when they bite me.  Snakes do carry Salmonella; I have been made ill by breathing i...

Left:  White admiral.  Center:  Red admiral  Right:  Lorquin's admiral  See text for numbers. Every admiral butterfly I have ever seen makes me stop and take notice.  They are relatively large, stark, and handsome.  I had a chance to photograph two different species last week and am including a third I photographed a while ago to complete the set. The red admiral (center) is the easiest to tell apart from the other two.  It has broad red bands (1) instead of the broad white bands the other species have.  The second indicator is on the topside of the 1st wing (2).  White admirals have a black tip while Lorquin's admirals have a red tip.  Red admirals have a black with white spots tip. The caterpillars of all three species have very different diets.  Red admiral caterpillars eat the leaves of nettles and relatives.  if you've ever brushed against a nettle, you would know that is a significant feat.  White admiral c...

  You would think that being found across southern Canada and the Northern US that I could find a picture of this creature in one of my insect field guides.  It is the first of its kind I have seen, and I was pretty sure it was a caddisfly adult when I discovered it sitting on a wind-blown leaf.   The young caddisflies are omnivorous, feeding on aquatic plants, detritus, and invertebrates much smaller than itself.  As a larva, it uses sand grains to build a case which encloses it.  The gills are kept lower down inside the case and presumably encourage water to move past the to allow gas exchange. They live in water with some degree of flow, usually streams, which no doubt helps with the movement of water past the protected gills. The photo below is of a different species of caddisfly but with a similarly constructed case. Caddisfly larva in its portable case.  Not the same species as above.  Adept fly fishermen will tie flies looking like various ...