Winged Wonders

It's been a good summer for butterflies.  Every year I catch a few on camera, flitting amongst the wildflowers.  But this summer season it seemed these winged wonders were everywhere - on every trail, in every wildflower patch.

Checkerspot butterfly

I'm no scientist, but I suspect our unusually hot and dry early summer weather might of had something to do with this year's butterfly population explosion.

Possible Summer Azure butterfly

My first encounter with butterfly-palooza came on a hike in early July.  We'd suffered through a heat wave the entire first week of the month.  Since I don't do well in hot weather, my hiking activities came to a screeching halt.  But after cowering indoors for over a week, I could stand it no longer.  When the temps finally dropped down to 90 degrees, I decided to hike anyway.  So I decided to do a quick trip up nearby Hardy Ridge.  The trail was mostly shaded and I remembered it had a pretty good wildflower bloom in July.

A Fritillary

Well.....Hardy Ridge usually had a good wildflower bloom.  While toiling up its trail I discovered, much to my dismay, that the recent hot weather had dried up most of the flowers.  There were still a few hardy blossoms about, but not the showy wildflowers in large quantities like I'd hoped.

Another Fritillary

However, as the temperatures rose I discovered another source of beauty - butterflies.  Dozens and dozens of butterflies began flitting about the flowers that were still blooming.

Parnassius clodius

Butterflies are tricky subjects.  About the time you point the camera and get things in focus, they always take off.  It's like the butterflies have sixth sense.  However, I've learned that when photographing butterflies, a zoom lens is your friend.  The more distance you can put between yourself and these winged beauties, the better your chances of not disturbing them.  Like any wildlife, if your subject isn't distracted by your presence, you stand a better chance of capturing a good image. 

A very beautiful butterfly!

I put this advice to work that afternoon on Hardy Ridge.  And I was able to capture a bunch of great images of a wide varieties of butterflies.  Large and small, colorful or not (but mostly the colorful types!) I was extremely happy with my photos that day.  Although the hike was hot, dusty, and not a lot of fun, seeing these lovely winged insects at work provided a huge bright spot that cancelled out some of the difficulties.

Cabbage butterfly

Since I'm no butterfly expert, I have to thank a couple of my Facebook friends for providing identifications for the butterfly images I captured.  

Swallowtail butterfly

The very next day, I went on another hike with my friends Debbie and Barry.  They wanted to check out Lookout Mountain, on the east side of Mt. Hood.  They'd heard it was a good place to see butterflies.  Fresh off my Hardy Ridge experience, I was totally ready for more.

Another checkerspot

And it was another successful day.  First thing I spotted a lovely swallowtail butterfly resting on some penstemon blooms right at the trailhead!

Not sure what this gray one is

And the day just got better.  I got more butterfly photos along the trail.  When we reached Lookout Mountain's summit, there were a couple hundred brightly-colored winged beauties floating between the wildflowers.  The only problem?  None of them landed for very long, if at all.  So even though there were lots of butterflies, I didn't get many photos from the place of highest concentration.

Fritillary 

However on our return trip, my friends and I had stopped in the woods for a quick break.  A lovely blue butterfly began hovering around me.  Then it landed on one of my hands.  The butterfly sat there on my hand for several minutes.  I couldn't believe it!  Although I wanted to take a photo, there was no way I could hold my camera one-handed.  Luckily, Debbie was able to snap several pics.  I've heard an old wives tale that if a butterfly lands on you you'll have good luck.  I certainly hope that's true!

This one landed on my hand and wouldn't leave!

Hope you've enjoyed this collection of butterfly images from early summer.  Since these lovely winged insects don't have a long lifespan, I'm glad I was able to capture some photographs on these hikes.  There's nothing like walking down a trail having butterflies soaring around you.  It really lifts ones spirits - and makes hiking in hot weather much more tolerable.