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Tiger Swallowtail Butterfly, Chapel Hill, South Carolina (photo: Karla Schultz)

Papilio glaucus

Common,
your tiger stripes,
Tiger Swallowtail, are
uncommonly elegant on
mauve bloom.

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Hummingbird Moth, Raleigh, South Carolina (photo: Karla Schultz)

Macroglossum stellatarum

Daylight
forager, you
sip nectar, chug sweetness,
Hummingbird Moth, until stars
whiten.

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Goldfinch, Chapel Hill, South Carolina (photo: Karla Schultz)

 Spinus tristis

Rising
from thistle-down~
motley-golden-khaki~
your waved-shaped flights weave one year,
Goldfinch.

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Dawn with Seagull, Amelia Island, Florida (photo: Karla Schultz)

Laridae

Each dawn
finds you, Seagull,
on the freshly made shore—
a new day, golden ideas
cast up.

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Today, on my sister’s birthday, I am celebrating Karla’s patience, skill, and artistry in capturing these amazing images from the natural world. Her work continues to amaze and inspire me. I have learned so much from studying not only her images but the wealth of science to which they offer me access. Her photographs feel like passports out of my human mind into the lives of flowers, trees, birds, insects, reptiles, and other mammals.

Thank you, Karla, for sharing your art with me and the world. Happy Birthday! May the year ahead be filled with exciting moments of beautiful discovery.

Leslie

Check out other participants at the NaPoWriMo Challenge 2017 home site!