Saturday, June 6, 2009

Peace in the blueberries: Butterflies

While the bees and wasps were working the flowers and providing sound effects, the blueberries had a couple of silent visitors.

Painted Lady (Vanessa cardui)

A Painted Lady (Vanessa cardui) stopped by for a very brief moment. She had hardly landed and she was off again. I barely got the one photo.

Olive Hairstreak (Callophrys gryneus)

On th other hand, an Olive Hairstreak (Callophrys gryneus) stayed for quite a long time. I almost didn’t notice it since it is a small butterfly, about 3/4-in long, and it was moving quietly and spending quite some time at each bloom. This particular butterfly was very patient and gave the impression of being oblivious to the fact that I had the macro lens almost touching it. Interestingly, this specimen doesn't have much olive color. It also took some time to identify since I was looking for the color rather than the markings. Once I concentrated on the markings, I quickly identified it.

Additional identification resouces: Bugguide.net
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