Eastern-Tailed Blue

I had to get some help with this one. I thought it may be a Short-tailed Blue, but they are not native to this part of the world. I contacted a naturalist at the Miami County Parks District and learned that is is actually a Eastern Tailed-blue. This one is a female. Here is a interesting fact from Wikipedia:

Eastern tailed-blues feed on various legumes and are known to secrete a substance which is favored by some ant species. The ant in turn protects the larva of the butterfly from other predators.

Very cool!!

(A special acknowledgment and thank you to Amalee at Miami County Parks District for her help identifying this beautiful butterfly)

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Go For It

On a hike early this week we came upon a couple dear on the trail. One was a young deer. If you look closely at the photo, you can still see her fading ‘spots’.

They saw us before we saw them. I guess we freaked them out: one went north, the other went south. We lost sight of the one that went north, but the one in the photo was stuck between us and the river. I could see her trying to figure how to get round us. We walked up the trail a ways, then waited for her to make a move. Sure enough, in a few minutes, she slowly walked to the trail. As she cleared the trees, she stopped and looked straight at us, and then quickly dashed away. It was beautiful.

~ Rick

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©2019 ©2020 Rick Cartwright

Unusually Quiet

When we see Bluejays, they are usually very loud and obnoxious. This one flew into this tree, did not make any noise, and then minutes later he flew away. I guess he was just checking things out.

~ Rick

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Rick’s latest technology muse:

Check out our vlog, which includes more pictures and video on YouTube at tales.photos. Remember to subscribe!

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Change

I saw a couple quotes about butterflies recently. The first one: “Take time to be a butterfly.” (Gillian Duce).

Why would you want to be like a butterfly? This is the second quote: “If nothing ever changed, there would be no such things as butterflies.” (Wendy Mass).

Butterflies don’t start their live as the beautiful creatures that we love to watch float across the lawn. Change is part of their existance.

I love the fact that we can change. Becoming the best ‘you’ is a process of change. Enjoy the process!!!

This photo: A few weeks back I wrote about the difference between the Viceroy and the Monarch Butterfly. I wanted to share a couple recent Viceroy photos. They may not have the story of the Monarch, but they are still so beautiful.

~ Rick

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Rick’s latest technology muse:

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©2019 ©2020 Rick Cartwright

Just Golden

The weather was perrfect for hiking, so on this day about three weeks ago we hiked to an overlook platform at Stillwater Prairie Reserve. I have never seen that much from this location, but on this day we saw a lot of wildlife. It was mostly birds and butterflies, but wow ... so much beauty. This Goldfinch was actively pollinating. Golden

~ Rick

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Rick’s latest technology muse:

Check out our vlog, which includes more pictures and video on YouTube at tales.photos. Remember to subscribe!

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©2019 ©2020 Rick Cartwright