THE MILKWEED AND THE BUTTERFLY CREEKS Wildflowers including these Indian Paintbrush

Wildflowers including these Indian Paintbrush are found throughout much of Rocky Mountain National Park with Notchtop Mountain visible in the distance

Purple wildflowers of ironweed stand tall on this prairie in Northern Illinois

A young male rocky mountain elk pauses for a moment to observe the photographer on the alpine tundra in Rocky Mountain National Park

I was up by 4:00 am to catch the sunrise at Wildflower Lake and at the trailhead by 4:30 am

A pair of mallard ducks rests along the banks of Eakin Creek West as their reflections are cast on the surface in this wetland landscape scene during early spring at Wildflower Park

THE MILKWEED AND THE BUTTERFLY CREEKS Wildflowers including these Indian PaintbrushAfter photographing the wildflowers with the misty sunrise scenes at Wildflower Park, I focused on some of the wildlife in the park. I switched out the nikkor 105mm macro lens from photographing the swamp milkweed plant to my nikkor 300mm f4 to capture any wildlife that would come close enough. I was coming up to an area of the park with some common milkweed along the trail and was in high hopes of seeing a monarch butterfly or two. My high hopes came