Skip to main content

Search

Items tagged with: lepidoptera

A Common Buckeye!!!

<<seriously excited shrieking>>

This butterfly has been on my wish list for years! I mean YEARS!!! I've never even SEEN one before!

(*they're supposed to be common - it's literally in the name - but they've felt like the white whale of butterflies for me lol.)

It was gone so fast. One quick stop & then it zoomed away. I was only able to get a few mediocre shots, but OMG! A Common Buckeye! FINALLY!!!

My heart is still pounding! 😂

#butterfly #Lepidoptera #TexasGarden #NaturePhotography

A Common Buckeye on pink yarrow flowers. Further detail: it is a brown butterfly with very large, distinctive "eyespots" on the wings. There are also two rectangular orange patches on the leading edge of the forewings & additional orange and white coloration around the dark eyespots. The yarrow flowers are pink with white centers. They're tiny flowers that bloom in dense clusters. They appear a bit washed out in this photo due to very strong afternoon sunlight.
A slightly different angle of the same Common Buckeye on pink yarrow flowers. This is a better shot of the dorsal side with the wings spread wide, although slightly off kilter because I had a bad angle. But it shows the full extent of the exquisite patterning of the wings (see first photo for a description). The left and right sides are a perfect mirror image of one another.
#naturephotography #butterfly #lepidoptera #texasgarden

Lovely Variegated fritillary yesterday afternoon.

First one this year!

(Side note: one of the best parts of spring is the arrival of each butterfly. I have a mental list of ~30 species or so that have visited my garden in the past. As each one arrives it's such a happy feeling - like "Ah, yes! There you are!")

Info & narrative in alt-text.

#butterfly #Lepidoptera #TexasGarden #NaturePhotography

A Variegated fritillary butterfly on a yellow Slender Rosinweed flower. Dorsal view with the wings fully extended. Further detail: the butterfly wings have a checkerboard pattern that includes a mix of tan and brown colors with thick black lines and a row of black spots on the outer edges of the wings. The intricate pattern always reminds me of a stained glass window. The butterfly is facing downward, with its head pointed at an 8 o'clock position. The Slender Rosinweed flower resembles a small sunflower with a ray of yellow daisy-like petals. The butterfly covers a large portion of the flower with the petals are arrayed behind it like a halo.
Profile view of the same Variegated fritillary butterfly on a small Slender Rosinweed flower. Further detail: side view of the butterfly with the wings closed, revealing the intricate pattern on the underside of the wings. It is a mix of tan, brown, and tawny orange colors with a mottled patterning similar to the dorsal view (described in photo 1). Photo taken from a distance. The butterfly and flower are sharply in focus, with other leaves and flowers out of focus in the foreground.
Front view of the same Variegated fritillary showing the butterfly's face. It is very reminiscent of a mouse, with large brown eyes and a pointed snout. Photo also captures how windy it was yesterday afternoon. The butterfly is leaning to the right as a strong gust of wind knocked it sideways. It is clinging to a raggedy Slender Rosinweed flower, which is also leaning over. The butterfly's legs are pencil thin and seem far too spindly & fragile to have hung on, yet it never lost its grip, despite being hit with what must have felt like hurricane force winds to such a delicate creature.
#naturephotography #butterfly #lepidoptera #texasgarden

⇧