You Just Never Know When You Will Want the Camera

I'm sure a lot of you are like me. Many times you have probably said to yourself. "This is great sight. I wish I had a camera with me right now." Well just a few days ago I was out at the pond taking a few photo's. On my way back home I decided the weather was nice and relatively cool so I hopped on the lawn tractor to cut a bit of grass before dark. Of course I still had the camera with me.

About 15 minutes into the cutting I noticed something yellow fluttering over in the uncut grass. I stopped the mower and got off to investigate with camera in hand. It was a yellow swallowtail butterfly.

I could see that it was evidently in some distress and you can see in the photo that it is actually under some of the blades of grass. I reached down and gently eased my fingers beneath it. The butterfly immediately climbed on board and seemed to be pleased to be rescued.

To start with it didn't move much, but then it started to walk all over my hand. Of course I still had the camera in my right hand so I was able to take a few quick shots. You can see in this photo it had lost much of its signature tail.

I'm sure I must have looked funny shifting my arm, hand, and camera around slowly to odd angles trying to get the close shots as the butterfly crawled all around my hand. This close-up shot is a tight crop of a larger photo so it is not very sharp, but I found the front view very interesting, especially the face and the fuzz on the back.

Eventually the butterfly recovered the strength it had lost in its struggle in the grass and decided to depart. Its flight appeared a bit slow and awkward, but it made it to a nearby tree and then flitted around a few times among the leaves. I last saw it about 8-10 feet up and almost hidden by the leaves.

I guess this just shows you never know when a camera will come in handy. Sometimes it is even when you are cutting the grass.