I’m
definitely awaiting spring!
Particularly following a beautiful weekend of early ‘April like’
weather. I’m ready to grab my camera, rush outside and
explore nature. I’m reminded of several
butterfly photos I took last year.
Actually, I’ve been chasing butterflies for over 25 years!
I remember the fun last year on the Outer
Banks. I spotted and photographed a
number of them on a nature trail. One
was the monarch. They were
everywhere. They were attracted to a
large clump of flowering bushes. There
was also another type of butterfly there.
I recognized it as one I saw several years ago along the Gulf coast of
Florida. I was more than
intrigued. “Why on earth is it here in
North Carolina,” I wondered? I had
never seen so many large butterflies feeding or fluttering over blossoms in my
life. 
Back
in the motel room I conducted a butterfly identification search. According to Wikipedia, I discovered this
beautiful butterfly was a Gulf fritillary.
It is also known as the passion butterfly. The ones I’ve found so far have a brilliant orange color. Months later, I conducted more research and
determined they are sometimes called the passion butterfly, simply because they
are attracted to the passion flower - a flower that grows on a vine.
In
North Carolina, Gulf fritillaries are fairly common along the southeastern
coast in fall. They are also found from
Argentina, Central America, Mexico, the Caribbean and Florida to the Outer
Banks of North Carolina; sometimes further north. They’re also found on the United States west coast along the San
Francisco Bay area.
Further
down the trail I spotted a butterfly with strange shaped wings. “This butterfly must have gotten its wing
caught and torn,” I thought. But, after
chasing it, I got a closer look. Both
wings appeared to be unusual. I stood
on my tiptoes. I managed to snap one
photo just before it flew away.
I
hurried my pace. I rounded a curve and
saw what I thought it was a dried leaf.
I stared. I noticed a similarity
to the shape of the butterfly I had just photographed. It made a slight movement. “Hummm”, I mumbled to myself, “another
peculiar butterfly. Wonder if this is a
butterfly in disguise?”
Again,
I did more research. I typed ‘butterfly
leaf’ as my subject. Finally, there it
was. There were photos of both the top
and underneath side of a butterfly that was an exact replica of the one I found
on the trail. Sure enough, the
underneath side of its wings created a perfect disguise. It was my first sighting of an Eastern comma
butterfly.
I
hope spring soon arrives, bringing with it spring like weather. My camera is ready. The batteries are charged!
