In the last few weeks, the flowers near our front doorstep have been growing in mad profusion. The combination of nectar and warm weather makes a powerful attractant for bees and butterflies.
Yesterday, I managed to catch a couple of shots of this handsome fellow:
I remembered enough from my childhood butterfly-chasing days to identify him as some sort of fritillary... but what kind? A little research established that he was a Gulf Fritillary (Agraulis vanillæ), also known as the Passion Butterfly on account of its larval-stage diet of passion flowers.
Butterflies. They’re pretty enough, to be sure, but I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: However beautiful it may be, a butterfly is still a fly.
Update: Friday Ark #358 is up at the Modulator. Stop by and check out the Miscellaneous Fauna!
Monday, October 24, 2011
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4 comments:
Those photos are just fabulous. And ew, you are so right -- bugs is bugs, no matter how pretty they may seem. They're creepy and sneaky, and I have no use for them. :::shudder:::
In defense of Butter-Flies...
Once, on a summer day,
A butterfly loved me.
Now I'm old and gray.
But once I was pretty.
Some men befriended me.
It's gone and far away.
But not the brief instant,
The magical moment,
A butterfly chose me
And rested beside me.
C.P.G. (October, 2008)
Splendid photos!
Lovely photos!
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