Butterflies

Since I've been in the mountains this summer I've been trying to photograph the little joys of nature around my yard....birds, mushrooms, etc.  I've found it surprisingly hard to capture quality images of the little creatures around me (birds, butterflies, squirrels, chipmunks, etc.).  It takes a lot of patience, and even with a fairly decent length lens (300mm), getting up close enough to get a good shot forces me to sit down and give the wildlife a chance to come to me (sometimes the wait is pretty long to get them to ignore me and come back to the feeder, flower, tree, etc.).  Then I have to make sure the light is okay and I have a fast enough shutter speed to reduce motion blur to an acceptable amount.  It's more difficult than I had expected and gives me more appreciation for the good images I see of these little treasures.  Here are a couple of beautiful butterflies on our butterfly bush this morning.