A bizarre design

When I saw this small caterpillar (approx 1 cm in length) I was amazed at the bizarre architecture.  I only managed a few photos as it was quite difficult to catch the whole caterpillar in focus considering the limited depth of field.  I am glad that I captured the bizarre projections on the back which make this caterpillar a truly unique specimen.  I’m not even going to try identifying the species as I wouldn’t even know where to start, so any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Caper White Butterfly

I was lucky enough to catch one photo of this Caper White Butterfly (Belenois java) as it landed on the flower for about 5 seconds.  I must admit that Butterflies are probably one of the hardest insects to shoot as they rarely sit still for very long which makes getting a good composition difficult.  They are also very easily spooked which makes approaching them a challenge as they won’t be waiting around too long!  I’m not 100% happy with the composition as I just cut off the top of one antennae, but I still liked the detail and particularly the colours in this shot.

Skipper Butterflies

Here are two examples of Skipper Butterflies (Family Hesperiidae), a common sight in the Australian garden.  Their common name comes from the pattern of their flight which involves darting movements.  Certainly a challenging butterfly to photograph, they are extremely skittish and hard to track when they shoot off at high speeds.  These two butterflies have slightly different patterns on their wings and may actually represent two different species of skipper butterfly.  The orange and yellow palm darts are another common type of skipper butterfly that I see regularly around palms such as the cotton palm.  The caterpillars can be seen stitching together the palm leaves with silk to create shelters.