We returned to Mackinac Island, Michigan for the first time in a couple years, and I wanted to stop at Wings of Mackinac Butterfly Conservatory for the first time since 2012. I came fully equipped with my macro lens and external flash. I wouldn't say it was my best butterfly shoot ever, but I got some good macro closeups. Here is the list of my butterfly shoots over the years, and some of them turned out pretty well even with a small point-and-shoot S95. But the most fun may have been way back in '08 when I brought the 500mm to bear on a patch of thistles in Florida.

Wings of Mackinac, Mackinac Island, Sept. 25, 2023. 6D Mark II, 100mm macro lens, 380EX flash.

Newton Hills State Park, South Dakota, July-August 2015. In addition to the butterflies, this includes my best Sphinx Moth images. 5D Mark III, different lenses (100-400, 300), no flash.

Wings of Mackinac, Mackinac Island, Sept. 24, 2012. Canon PowerShot S95, built-in flash.

American Museum of Natural History, New York City, May 6, 2012. Canon PowerShot S95, built-in flash.

Sertoma Butterfly House, Sioux Falls, SD, April 10, 2011. Shown here is the 2011 Photo of the Year. 1D Mark II, 100mm macro lens, 380EX flash.

Lower Suwannee NWR, Florida, March 22, 2008. Canon 1D Mark II, 500mm lens on tripod, no flash.

And there are a few others over the years. Click here for all of my butterfly images.

The first day on Mackinac Island, we toured the butterfly house and the two nearby carriage museums before biking to British Landing. The second day we biked around the island clockwise, which brought us to the east side for the home stretch. The wind was fierce, but we made it. Two observations about the island: It is a tourist destination and everything is priced accordingly. And even though motor vehicles are prohibited, they allow e-bikes. This is not a positive development, in my opinion, and I can see some controvery about this in the future.

On the way home from Mackinac, we stopped in the Black Hills for a day, the day after the annual bison roundup in Custer State Park. We missed the thundering herd, but we visited the new Bison Center. The photo ops were not great, which we attributed to the massive human presence of that weekend. The non-butterfly images from Mackinac and the few shots from Custer State Park have been added to the Autumn 2023 page.

Custer State Park the day after the roundup.