Chasing Schmetterlings

At least once every summer you should find yourself spending part of the morning or afternoon chasing schmetterlings (which someone recently told me is the German word for butterflies). I was stalking some schmetterlings over by a bottlebrush buckeye yesterday afternoon, but only managed to capture this one Eastern Tiger Swallowtail, which I will say is male after consulting my favorite insect ID site bugguide.net, with the camera.

Buckeye Fever

There's something magical about the Buckeyes (Aesculus sps.) and their relative, the Horsechestnut in early spring. Above is a picture of some fresh leaves on a young Buckeye in Prospect Park, only a few days since the leaf buds opened. Below a bud just a little behind in development, with the leaves not quite unfolded. (And for an amazing shot from last spring of a bud from this genus, which gets quite big right before opening, rivaling even the beauty of the magnolia's buds, check out Rebecca Bullene's photo from Brooklyn Botanic. Wow.)




































Every season you might as well go and fall in love with a tree or a flower, some bark or a bud. Right now I'm crazy about what I think is a million-dollar branch on my windowsill. That Buckeye branch is the prettiest thing. Surely the leaves right now rival even the aristocratic Japanese Maple? I'm pretty sure my ID is right on this one.