Monday, August 9, 2010

Tiny Butterfly

I've been saying that it's been time for me to come back closer to home to do my hiking and nature watching. But I never said I couldn't come home and go farther away still. So I was right back out at Island Lake, which isn't very close to home, to explore nature and avoid evil bike riders.

I decided I wanted to get a closer look at a particular stretch of river that I check out sometimes. I thought an update for myself on the conditions there might be fun since I haven't walked that way the last several times I'd been there. I was rewarded with several things when I got to the edge of the river.

The first thing I saw was this tiny white butterfly that was flitting around. I noticed that it seemed to want to land nearby so I waited patiently for it to do exactly that. You can see above that I wasn't disappointed. This butterfly is actually about the same size as my thumbnail. It's much more beautiful that the naked eye shows.

I don't really know what the actual name of this butterfly is, mostly because I didn't look as hard as I could. But that's because finding the identities of butterflies online has not been easy for me yet. Someday it will be. I usually start out with a Google search, but all that really yielded was anything from pictures of horses to women in only their bras.

When I was looking at that crazy list of pictures and only seeing two white butterflies, I wondered why all of the others were on that list at all. I thought to myself that if my search was going to start out this bad I'd just end it now and post the pictures without a specific name. Google is usually much better than that.

How was that for a side adventure. Anyway, here is a backed off picture of the little butterfly. You can see that there are little clumps of small blades of grass that are much bigger than the butterfly. The big rocks that are embedded in the ground are only pebbles.

You might notice that backing up even this far makes the butterfly lose some of its beautiful detail. Backing up to the full length makes the creature only look like a white speck. Should I say that sometimes good things come in small packages? No, that would sound stupid. But I still did it, didn't I?

This butterfly was maybe the most beautiful of my sightings at the edge of that river, but it wasn't the only one, and it wasn't the strangest. The strangest is coming very soon.


Nature Center Magazine -Today's Cool Nature Video features Poison Dart Frogs.

16 comments:

  1. Great find Ratty, he is a beauty. It is the little things like this butterfly that I most enjoy finding on my walks.

    I believe your butterfly is an Eastern Tailed Blue.

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  2. Maybe this little butterfly is a Marine Blue. Your side adventure was a funny one. I can relate.:) Will look forward to your next post.

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  3. I agree with Squirrel Queen, an eastern blue butterfly. The small things in life often go unnoticed but are often the best.

    Bill:www.wildramblings.com

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  4. Your friends make it easy to ID :) thanks to them I didn't have to browse through 100s of photos at these sites.

    http://www.butterfliesandmoths.org/species?l=1589

    http://bugguide.net/node/view/464

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  5. The common hairstreak (Strymon melinux) is also known as the gray hairstreak. There are over 70 different species of hairstreak butterflies. The name hairstreak is derived from the thin (hairlike) extensions located on their hindwings. They belong to the family Lycaenidae. The small tail and spots mimic a head with antennae so a predator would peck at them there and they could escape. Posted this a few posts ago. Gorgeous creatures.

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  6. My Cycad Blue has to know his relative over your place. I'll update him this coming weekend.

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  7. I wish I'd see more Butterflies but can't from inside too often. I have this tiny, tiny, black and white one that lands on my window every night but I can't seem to catch a pic of it. They are interesting to watch. No matter how small they are, they are all pretty.

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  8. Such a pretty butterfly. I rarely see any and when i do spot one I never have the camera with me.

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  9. glad that though it may be tiny, but your love for nature did not make you miss them. beautiful pictures.

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  10. At first I thought it's a moth as it's so tiny. Well, I've been researching for it but failed. Maybe, butterfly collectors could contribute by posting its name or specie. Thanks.

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  11. Since I tend to view butterflies as a food source, it didn't occur to me to find out what they were called, or try to ID them. This one is definitely pretty, although it seems that there are a few differing opinions on exactly what it is. I looked at the photos and I would say it is definitely an eastern blue and not a hairstreak.

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  12. Butterflies were my favourites when I was a kid. I used to run around them in the garden with the hope of catching one. Your photos brought back my fond memories. Thanks.

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  13. you did a good job. i tried this many times but im not succesful in capturing things hat is moving... oh welll i guess photography is not for me...

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  14. hey Ratty...just been playing catch up after the hols and as always have enjoyed reading your posts....i would like to help you identify this butterfly but it's hard when you don't soo its open wingspan...sorry :-(

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  15. The only butterflies I know are the Monarchs since we have so many in CA....this one is pretty close up. Good job!

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