Mourning Cloak Butterfly 2010

You may notice that I added 2010 to the title of this story about the mourning cloak butterfly in my pictures today. That's because I had a few very good pictures of another one slightly over a year ago. This was the only way I could think of to make a different title. I have a good story to go along with this one that's different from the one from a year ago anyway.

I actually took these pictures on the same day that I saw the tree fall in the forest. I had actually been watching three of these butterflies flying past me on the trail when that tree fell. I was marveling at seeing even another fun sight that day. They passed by, the tree fell, and I had begun to head out of the forest. But then one of them came back.

It landed on the trail right in front of me. My mind was still full of seeing that tree fall, but I remembered almost trying to project thoughts at the butterflies, wishing that one of them would land in front of me long enough for me to get a picture. When this one actually did it, I almost couldn't believe my eyes! I began to believe just a little bit that it must have really heard me! Maybe they were just waiting for the tree to be done causing its commotion.

I wasn't going to give up this gift that the butterfly was giving me.I began taking pictures of it at a furious pace! I took most of them as close as I could zoom the camera in to it while still being able to remain steady. I did my best to get a few other shots too, but I thought I had to act fast.

Well, I thought wrong. The butterfly didn't leave! It just stayed there in front of me. It seemed perfectly content to sit there in front of me. If an animal does that then it almost becomes a contest with me. I feel like I have to keep taking pictures. I can't be the first one to leave. I finally lifted my hand up and passed my shadow over this butterfly. That's when it flew away.

But then it came right back!

 20 seconds long.

This time I remembered to get a video! I wouldn't have thought of it before this, but the butterfly gave me plenty of time for the thought to ooze into my brain. So this episode of Rat TV was done with the intention of showing you the butterfly in action.

I was hoping it would move, but it wasn't exactly cooperating. So I waved my hand again and it finally took off into the air. It's hard to see it but I think I did a pretty good job of following the butterfly. You'll be able to see it flying if you watch closely. This was a fun video for me.

This was the first picture I took of the butterfly. I began taking them as soon as I saw it. I sometimes forget to not try to get all of them so close up. I'd say this is still good enough though. The funny thing is that when this one finally flew away, another one that I hadn't noticed before came off the side of a tree about ten feet away and flew by me in the direction this one had gone. It seemed as if that one had been perched there watching the whole event.

That's the story of how I found this early spring creature, the mourning cloak butterfly.

Today over at Nature Center Magazine, Copas has a new article up. Copas is writing about nature in each of our fifty states here in the United states, one by one. He shares a lot of good information about each one, and includes some very informative links so you can find out more. His subject for this week is Arizona. Please go take a look. I'm hoping that he'll stay on after he's done with all of the states; he really does a good job.