Fascinating Insects - Argynnis pandora - Сardinal - family Nymphalidae.
I cannot boast that I have a huge collection of butterfly photographs, but sometimes I was able to take some interesting photographs at close and very close range.
Usually, such meetings with butterflies are remembered for a long time.
It is about such a meeting that I want to tell you today.
It happened thirty kilometers from the capital of Moldova.
I was driving past a pine plantation and wanted to check this forest for the presence of mushrooms.
This hobby gives me many advantages and chances for interesting finds.
On this day, I did not find any mushrooms, but I found a gorgeous butterfly called Argynnis pandora, or, as it is also called, Cardinal.
This is a very large, daytime butterfly with large eyes and a very powerful proboscis, with the help of which, she very appetizingly drank the nectar of thistle flowers.
This butterfly has some kind of special wings. Power and strength are felt in them.
Look at those eyes and the proboscis, they are huge!
There is no flaw in these wings, as in the mythical Pandora, in whose honor this butterfly got its name.
It was with great difficulty that I fit this butterfly into the lens of my camera.
One moment, I didn't get it. Why is she compared to a cardinal?
There is a better comparison.
Look at this jaguar, which I photographed at the zoo in the city of Rivne.
He is the twin brother of this butterfly.
I was glad that I left home a little earlier, and I had a few minutes for this photo session.
Another moment of the meal.
This butterfly is shy.
From time to time, she hid in the forest, but after a few minutes she returned.
She was only interested in the flowers of the thistle and its nectar.
My shadow is visible here, but sometimes, I touched the butterfly with the camera lens.
It took about half an hour for the butterfly to stop being afraid of me.
Winged Pandora!
This is what the glade looks like, at the edge of the forest, where I found this butterfly.
When the butterfly flew into the shadow, I could not see it.
Here's an interesting moment when the butterfly took off.
When the butterfly hid in the forest, once again, I looked at my watch and realized that it was time for us to leave.
Photos taken with a Sony Cyber-shot DSC-HX300 camera
I edited a photo in the program PhotoDirector, which I also installed on my smartphone.
For my publications, I do not use stock photographs, it is fundamentally important for me to use photographs that I have made with my own hands for publication and I can name them - authorial work.
