Butterflies
Monarch On the Throne
The majestic monarch butterfly is perfectly content to rule from his traditional throne – a leaf of the milkweed plant.
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Owl Butterfly
I found this unique, very large butterfly on a recent visit to the Puelicher Butterfly Vivarium in the Milwaukee Public Museum. There were a variety of butterflies, but this one intrigued me the most because of it’s size.
According to Wikipedia…
An owl butterfly is a butterfly, in the genus Caligo, known for their huge eyespots, which resemble owls’ eyes. They are found in the rainforests and secondary forests of Mexico, Central, and South America.
Owl butterflies are very large, 65–200 mm (2.6–7.9 in), and fly only a few meters at a time, so avian predators have little difficulty in following them to their settling place. However, the butterflies preferentially fly in dusk, when few avian predators are around. The Latin name may possibly refer to their active periods. Caligo means darkness.
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Paper Kite
This beautiful, high-contrast butterfly is known by the name, Paper Kite. It’s technical name is Idea Leuconoe. The name game doesn’t stop there, either. It’s also called a Wood Nymph butterfly, Large Tree Nymph butterfly or simply, Rice Paper butterfly.
The Paper Kite has a weak, fluttery flight interspersed with gliding due to the high ratio of their wing-size to body-size. You would think, with their bright color and bold pattern, they would easily fall victim to predators, but like monarch butterflies, they are poisonous or highly unpalatable and are not often attacked.
The Paper Kite’s natural territory is Southeast Asia. Apparently, it is a common resident in butterfly greenhouses and live butterfly expositions. I found this one at the Butterfly Palace and Rainforest Adventure in Branson, MO.
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Monarch Squadron
All three of these monarch butterflies are in flight. They were circling, and eventually landing and feeding on, the purple asters in a vacant field near the building where I work.
I didn’t see a lot of butterflies this year, but when I did, it was all within a few weeks at the end of the summer. This photo was taken in late September.
In the interest of full disclosure, you should know this is a composite image. I combined three separate photos – each with one butterfly – to create this image of three butterflies. They were all photographed exactly as you see them…in the location that you see them…just at different moments.
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Exotic Pole Dancer
A monarch butterfly clings to a thin twig, displaying its beautiful markings and color.
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Clipper Parthenos Sylvia Blue
This is a Clipper butterfly of the Parthenos Sylvia variety. The clippers, like this blue version, a nymphalid species.
The clipper is a fast flying butterfly whose habit of never fully raising its wings when flapping makes its flight look rather stiff and jerky. In between spurts of flapping it will gracefully glide.
These butterflies are typically found in South and South-East Asia. This beauty was photographed at The Butterfly Palace in Branson, MO.
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Monarch Flight
A monarch butterfly rises majestically above the patch of purple asters. I snapped this photo in a field next to my workplace. I’d been working on trying to catch the few monarchs I found in flight. Catching one in focus is a formidable challenge because of their erratic motion in flight. This is a view of the butterfly from behind, wings on the downward stroke.
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Green-banded Swallowtail
This is the Green-banded Swallowtail butterfly. Some might also refer to this butterfly as a Green Banded Peacock or Emerald Swallowtail. It is common to South Asia, including India and Sri Lanka.
In this image, the bands on the wings seem to be more of a blue color. Apparently the color can vary slightly, depending on the angle of view. From the back, it can seem more blue – from the front it appears more green. As you can see, this butterfly is peppered with green scales either side of the main bands. The coloration is a structural color not a pigmented color. The structure of the scales on this butterfly give it the iridescent green color.
Their main diet is provided by plants in the citrus family. On a sad note, they have a short lifespan. The adult Green-banded Swallowtail butterflies rarely last longer than a week.
I photographed this creature on a recent visit to The Butterfly Palace and Rainforest Adventure in Branson, Missouri.
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All of the photos I post are available for purchase. If you’d like to buy one, click on the blue “Buy this Online” bar below for a variety of print and frame options or contact me for digital purchase and licensing options.
Crepe Wings
The early morning light was striking this monarch butterfly at just the right angle to bring out the tiniest details in its wings. Of the many varieties of butterflies I’ve photographed lately, I find the monarch – common to our area of the world – to still be one of the most striking.
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All of the photos I post are available for purchase. If you’d like to buy one, click on the blue “Buy this Online” bar below for a variety of print and frame options or contact me for digital purchase and licensing options.
Leaf Walker
This delicate beauty is a Orange-spotted Tiger Clearwing . It is also referred to as a Disturbed Tigerwing (Mechanitis polymnia). It is a butterfly of the family Nymphalidae. In the wild you will find them from Mexico to the Amazon Rainforest. I happened to find this one at The Butterfly Palace and Amazon Adventure in Branson, MO.
You can get a better view of the detail in this photo by viewing the larger version. Simply click on the photo.
All of the photos I post are available for purchase. If you’d like to buy one, click on the blue “Buy this Online” bar below for a variety of print and frame options or contact me for digital purchase and licensing options.