The Queen Butterfly

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The predominant color of the upperside and underside of the Queen butterfly is orange-brown. The black borders of the forewings have two rows of white spots. The underside of the hindwing has prominent black veins. The black borders of the underside hindwing also have two rows of small white spots. These butterflies are found throughout tropical regions of the Americas, Africa, and Asia; in the US, the Queen can be found around the Gulf Coast, California, Arizona, Texas, and southern New Mexico.

Queen Butterfly
NABA International Butterfly Park, Rio Grande area, TX - November 2009
Nikon D300, Sigma 180mm f/3.5 lens
1/320 sec at f/7.1, ISO 800

Queen Butterfly
NABA International Butterfly Park, Rio Grande area, TX - November 2009
Nikon D300, Sigma 180mm f/3.5 lens
1/1000 sec at f/7.1, ISO 640

Queen Butterfly
NABA International Butterfly Park, Rio Grande area, TX - November 2009
Nikon D300, 300mm f/4 lens + 1.7x teleconverter
1/250 sec at f/8, ISO 200

Queen Butterfly
NABA International Butterfly Park, Rio Grande area, TX - November 2010
Nikon D700, Sigma 180mm f/3.5 lens + 2x teleconverter
1/320 sec at f/14, ISO 2000

Queen Butterflies
NABA International Butterfly Park, Rio Grande area, TX - November 2008
Nikon D80, 300mm f/4 lens
1/125 sec at f/6.3, ISO 400

Queen Butterflies
NABA International Butterfly Park, Rio Grande area, TX - November 2017
Nikon D500, 300mm f/4 lens
1/400 sec at f/13, ISO 280

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David Sparks

I retired in 2005 after 40 years of research and teaching at the University of Alabama in Birmingham (24 years), the University of Pennsylvania (8 years) and the Baylor College of Medicine (8 years). Photography is my retirement hobby.

Nature photography, especially bird photography, combines a number of things that I really enjoy: bird-watching, being outdoors, photography, travel, messing about with computers, and learning new skills and concepts.  I now spend much of my time engaged in these activities.

David Sibley in the preface to The Sibley Guide to Birds wrote "Birds are beautiful, in spectacular as well as subtle ways; their colors, shapes, actions, and sounds are among the most aesthetically pleasing in nature."  My goal is to acquire images that capture the beauty and uniqueness of selected species as well as images that highlight the engaging behaviors the birds exhibit.