It’s been a fine year for Sandia hairstreaks, New Mexico’s state butterfly. Although I’ve included a few photos of them in other posts this year (here and here), I haven’t yet devoted an entire email to them — ahem! at least not this year.
In theory, at least, all the Sandia hairstreaks I’ve seen so far are from last year’s brood. Scientists think they lie dormant through much of each summer, fall, and winter, then mate and lay eggs come spring. If I’m really lucky, I might come across a few members of this year’s brood later this month or early in June. For whatever reason, members of the new brood are never as much in evidence as those born the previous year.
The longer I watch Sandia hairstreaks, the more I can see how very individual their colors and markings are. For example, the butterfly above (Figure 2) has a row of spots on both wings that neither of the other two have. The butterfly below (Figure 3)1 has a very clear line of orange running just above the black and white line on its lower wing; that line of orange isn’t nearly as clear on either of the other butterflies.
As it turns out, I rented two different macro lenses this spring to see which I liked best.2 I also ended up taking some Sandia hairstreak photos with my all-purpose lens.3
I’ve included a photo taken with each lens in this post and have a request: If you have a clear favorite photo and/or a clear loser photo, would you be willing to let me know which it is/they are? A bonus would be if you could tell me why you do or don’t like it. I’m feeling very conflicted about which macro lens to buy and your feedback may help.4 Many thanks in advance.
Sandia hairstreaks often hang upside down on tiny blades of grass.
A macro lens allows one to take very up-close photos. I can often get to within 4-6 inches of Sandia hairstreaks — they are much more tolerant of my camera than most butterflies.
For the photogs on the list who’ll want to know: The camera is a Sony A6600; one of the macro lenses was the Sony 90mm and the other was the Sigma 105mm. My all-purpose lens is a Tamron 18-300mm zoom.
I fully expect 1/3 of you will like each lens best. But I am still curious to “see” through your eyes.
Beautiful! I find Figure 3 to be the clearest of the three, finer detail is visible to my eye in that particular photograph. Thanks for asking for feedback, Lisa. It seems like a small repayment for all the joy you bring with Everyday Magic.
Figure 3 has most clarity to me