We went hiking today at Blue Springs State Park. Our Butterflies for Binoculars book recommends this park for butterflies, so we decided to visit. We didn’t see all the butterflies promised by the book, but we did see some surprises…

We were walking along and I saw this caterpillar. Since we hadn’t been seeing much, first it was just exciting to see the caterpillar, and be able to get a good picture of it with my macro lens. But then as I was bent over taking pictures, the fly few up, and the caterpillar started reaching for it. I saw it all magnified by my lens, and it was very surreal. I was a little disappointed when I saw my pictures, though. Not very many of them were well focused. So I learned my lesson: just because I can open my aperture to f/2.8, doesn’t mean I should!

This dragonfly posed for us:

These really big spiders are a little freaky.

This squirrel was chowing down on a nut by the picnic area. He was very friendly!

Finally! We came to see butterflies, and we finally saw one.

A little while later I was rewarded for my patience by my first-ever look at a Viceroy:

The day ended with a White Peacock. It was a nice hike, but I’m not sure if we’ll go back. At least, not at this time of year.