Butterflies

Today I want to show you a few of the butterflies I've seen while on my adventures. I'm not going to try to identify any of them here, but I'm in the process of finding out what kind these are, and also the identity of many others. I also have many more pictures of some of these.

I saw this first one only a few days ago. It was at the back of the park, behind the pond. I was looking for some deer that the park official told me about. This butterfly was a big one, over three inches, and it flew over as easy as you please and landed on a branch just to my right.

It was kind of high up but I was still able to get a few good shots. It waited there sunning itself until I made a move to get too close. Then it flew away never to be seen again. Don't you hate when that happens? It was all my fault anyway. I was already close enough, but I got greedy for a different angle.

This next little butterfly was in the meadow area of the same park. That place seems to be a good park to see butterflies. I saw very many of these flitting around through this area that day. It was pretty easy to get several shots of this one. There was only one problem that day.

I forgot about this butterfly for a long time because this was the day that I had the run in with the gang of raccoons. I saw those raccoons upon entering the park, and I was cowardly taking this meadow path so I could avoid those vicious(cute) attackers.

When I got these pictures, I still had those raccoons on my mind, and I wanted to get out of the park as quickly as I could. I was too excited to pay much attention to these beautiful butterflies or much of anything else. Still, they've been on my mind ever since.

This one I can identify! It's a mourning cloak butterfly. I have a good post about this type of butterfly already, and you can see it here. I get so many searches for this butterfly on this site, that the page has its own page rank. I also have some more excellent pictures in my archives that I've been searching for.

I found this one as I was leaving the same park where I found these other two. It actually flew right over in front of me, circled around my head, and then finally floated down right in front of me on the path! I couldn't believe my luck. Of course, I began taking pictures like a madman.

This photo session was cut short though, because just as I got started with the camera two students from the college across the street came out of the forest trail. These two evil interlopers interrupted the whole thing! Arrgg!!

It was okay anyway because I have good shots of these and many more. I'm going to start identifying some of these butterflies, and sharing the stories with you. I have to do it, because these are like the flowers of the animal kingdom. I hope this first look has been fun.