This past Thursday I took a hike through a couple of washes and canyons at
the far southeastern end of the Superstition Mountains. I came away with lots
of scenery, wild flower, and butterfly photos, some of which were surprising.
Here I'll post the photos of the six varieties of butterflies that I
encountered.
The first one is an Empress Leilia butterfly (Asterocampa leilia):
http://www.flickr.com/photos/64004640@N03/8644634137/in/photostream
In the early morning you could get fairly close to these as they dried the
morning dew from their wings. Later in the day while I was photographing
another of these an While photographing the Empress Leilia butterfly, an Acmon
Blue butterfly (Plebejus acmon) muscled it's way into the scene:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/64004640@N03/8644634061/in/photostream
They tend to gather in large numbers around muddy spots, as do the Mexican
Yellow butterflies (Eurema mexicana):
http://www.flickr.com/photos/64004640@N03/8644634181/in/photostream
A few California Patch butterflies (Chlosyne californica) were
encountered, but none of them would remain still very long:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/64004640@N03/8644634103/in/photostream
Late in the day an Edith's Cherckerspot butterfly (Euphydryas editha) put
on a nice show, feasting away at a New Mexico Thistle and occasionally resting
on the branches of a nearby Mesquite:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/64004640@N03/8644634119/in/photostream
But the highlight of the day in terms of butterflies was the encounter
with two Red Admiral butterflies (Vanessa atalanta):
http://www.flickr.com/photos/64004640@N03/8644634223/in/photostream
The first one I saw early in the day flew off before I could get into position,
and this second one that I came across around noon took almost five minutes to
photograph. It kept it's wings folded most of the time, opening them up for
just brief moments. This was a bit excruciating as I was leaning over the
whole time and did not take the time to take off my pack. I took over a dozen
photos just to get this one.
Chris
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