Monday, October 24, 2011

QUICK, HENRY - THE FRIT

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:

Gulf Fritillary - profile

Gulf Fritillary

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!
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4 comments:

  1. EricaOctober 25, 2011 at 10:35 AM

    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:::

    ReplyDelete
  2. ClaudeOctober 25, 2011 at 3:14 PM

    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)

    ReplyDelete
  3. ClaudeOctober 25, 2011 at 4:01 PM

    Splendid photos!

    ReplyDelete
  4. RahelOctober 26, 2011 at 5:25 PM

    Lovely photos!

    ReplyDelete

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