Monday, October 4, 2010

A Common Buckeye Butterfly (Junonia coenia) nectaring on goldenrod

Common Buckeyes were abundant in the high meadow at VOA Park last weekend. I've never seen so many in one place. They spent most of their time nectaring on the bright yellow flower clusters on plumes of goldenrod.

A Common Buckeye Butterfly (Junonia coenia) nectaring on autumn-blooming goldenrod.

...the nectar from the goldenrod must have been especially sweet because the buckeyes were incredibly obliging, keeping their wings open for photographing.


...a little bee gets in on the nectar action...

25 comments:

Betsy Banks Adams said...

Beautiful, Kelly... The Buckeyes are some of my favorite butterflies. You captured some marvelous pictures of them. I love the one where the little bee is getting in on the action also. ha...

Hope you enjoy your trip to Cumberland Falls. We are headed to the Maggie Valley area of North Carolina for a couple of days that week.
Hugs,
Betsy

Randy Emmitt said...

Kelly,
Same here buckeyes everywhere! Enjoyed the photos!

grammie g said...

Hi Kelley...What a beauty, the Buckeye,and beautiful photos of it!!!
I would bet he is as big in your photos as he is in real life! : }

Roy said...

Great shots! Mostly what I see sipping on the Goldenrod around here are Bumblebees.

Unknown said...

Kelly, great shots. I've never seen one but I think the Buckeye is one of the prettier butterflies around!
You photos depict it just right!

Anonymous said...

Yes really beautiful macro shots Kelly of this very colourful species.

Chris said...

What a beauty. We have one type which is very similar in France... I love the second photo a lot but all of them are really cool. Do you still have butterfly so late in the year?

Laure Ferlita said...

So clear! Gorgeous! Don't think we have buckeyes, but I'm not up on my Florida butterflies.

Montanagirl said...

Just amazing shots, Kelly! Very beautiful. They are such a colorful butterfly. Love the Bee shot as well.

laurent Debordes said...

c'est vraiment un magnifique papillon

Out on the prairie said...

With the cold coming in I am seeing less, but this was a good year for them. I always had a dozen in my garden.Gorgeous shots.

Marie said...

Nothin' "common" about these buckeyes--they are gorgeous! (And this coming from a Wolverine!)

Kathy A. Johnson said...

What gorgeous photos! I'm always amazed at the details you manage to get.

Jenny said...

Stunning photos Kelly! I love that second one particularly. Taken from such a great angle I think. That is a stunning looking butterfly!

Chris Petrak said...

Everybody seems to be getting great pictures of butterflies while I scarcely even see one. But that last photo, with the bee and all - that one is really something!!

Janice K said...

The colors seem to shout "Fall." Neat pictures!

Wanda..... said...

Perfectly Beautiful, Kelly. That Buckeye even glowed for you!

Elaine said...

Incredible shots, Kelly!

Midmarsh John said...

The first photo is absolutely stunning Kelly.

Atanasio Fernández García said...

Espectacular!!! Congratulations!

Deb said...

Your photos of this gorgeous butterfly are fabulous Kelly!

Anonymous said...

Loving your photographs Kelly

FAB said...

Whow what stunning butterflies.

Kelly said...

...thanks, everyone! What a crazy day! The Buckeyes were everywhere....so beautiful. Usually they are harder to photograph, but they didn't care at all and let me get fairly close!

said...

yo adoro a las mariposas
estoy feliz de encontrar estas preciosidades aquí
me encantan :)
miles de abrazos