Olive Juniper Hairstreaks at Horn Pond Mtn

[Howard Hoople]

Yesterday afternoon I visited Horn Pond Mtn in Woburn, and ran into several friends from the butterfly club there. Sometimes photographing butterflies really does work best as a team sport. My first view of an Olive Juniper Hairstreak this season came yesterday, only after no fewer than five people tried to explain to me where the little green triangle (the OJH) was on the big green triangle (hostplant red cedar). Michael finally picked up an 8’ long branch and gently approached the OJH on the “parabolic” branch that Barbara was trying to guide me towards. After that, things gradually improved, and we got good looks at them both in red cedars and once on another plant near the ground. But still,  best photos seemed to result from teamwork. At one point Michael had located an OJH, Bruce gently repositioned and held the branch it was on, and I took the shot. I’m hard pressed to think I should take credit for the resulting picture - it really was a group effort -  but we all helped each other so perhaps it evened out. At one point we even convinced some innocent passers-by to stop what they were doing and come look at the neat butterfly we’d located, since they (in our opinion) shouldn’t miss out! All were suitably impressed.

Here’s the first of five photos I've posted from yesterday’s outing: https://flic.kr/p/GrDtNy . These photos are similar to ones I’ve taken in the last few seasons, and for me raise a serious question. When I look at OJHs, with or without binoculars, or through the camera viewfinder, my immediate subjective perception is of a deep emerald green butterfly with striking white accents. Resulting photos skirmish with that perception, but never seem to really capture the intensity of that “live” view for me. Has anyone else managed to get a picture of an OJH that they feel really captures that deep green/ white contrast view?

Howard

Howard Hoople

Andover MA

[Bruce deGraaf]

I posted a gallery of photos that I took on Sunday 4/24/2015 that included stops at Fort Pond Brook area in Concord and Horn Pond Mountain in Woburn where I ran into Howard Hoople, Sue & Ron Cloutier, Barbara Volkle & Steve Moore and Michael Newton. The photos include Henry's Elfin and Azures from Fort Pond Brook and Brown Elfin, Juvenal's Duskywing, Black Swallowtail, Juniper Hairstreak and an ovipositing American Lady. For those interested, here are some links of interest:

Overall gallery view: http://brucedegraaf.zenfolio.com/p782335612

First photo in the gallery of a Henry's Elfin: http://brucedegraaf.zenfolio.com/p782335612/e7d67da74

Brown Elfin with lots of frosting: http://brucedegraaf.zenfolio.com/p782335612/e7eca00bc

Juniper Hairstreak series starting with a wide angle view of where we first found it: http://brucedegraaf.zenfolio.com/p782335612/e765ae16c

American Lady ovipositing: http://brucedegraaf.zenfolio.com/p782335612/e74cff416

Bruce deGraaf

Shrewsbury, MA

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