5/19/11

Flutter-bys

I was excited to read this article in the May/June 2011 Via magazine published by AAA.  It seems that May is the month when you can see Fender's blue butterflies coming out of their coccoons and taking flight at Baskett Slough National Wildlife Refuge, near Salem, Oregon.  I was excited because we saw these butterflies that were once thought extinct when we hiked on Mt. Rainier during the summer of 2005.  I didn't know what I was seeing at the time, but I was able to snap this image of one.

I always like knowing I've captured something special, even if it is retroactively.  Very cool.

I was able to get this Shasta Swallowtail on a Mt. Rainier hike one year later.



It was the butterfly shot of my dreams at the time.  Someday I'd like to quilt it.  "Someday" being the operative word in that sentence.  I have lots of things on my "someday" list.

Today I saw a butterfly in the garden.  Sadly, I didn't have my camera with me.  I've searched all over the internet and I haven't been able to find one that looks the way I remember it.  I believe it had white wings with orange spots at the bottom.  It was small . . . maybe an inch and a half across.  I'll just have to hope it flutters back some time when I'm ready for it.

5 comments:

Kirsty said...

Oh wow! I love your photos. Such amazing creatures.

Kate said...

Beautiful shots! Butterflies are so hard to capture on film because they are always fluttering1

Dana Gaffney said...

Beautiful pictures! I've been watching six small white butterflies dance outside my window, so beautiful.

otterdaughter said...

So jealous of your butterfly photo luck!

I pulled out the trusty Butterfly and Moth golden nature guide and think your mystery butterfly is an Acmon Blue. The underside of the wings are white with a row of orange spots along the bottom outer edge.

Here's a link to a good picture:

http://greennature.com/gallery/lycaenidae/acmon-blue-male.jpg

quiltzyx said...

Great butterfly pics!
Don't you almost wish that your camera was just a PART of you, so it was always handy? LOL