Another Butterfly Flies In

Today is another beautiful day along the Colorado Front Range, and I am seeing more benefit from all the flowers we have planted. Butterflies, bees, birds, and other garden creatures continue to visit. Today, the lovely spouse called me out to the back garden to see a beautiful orange and brown butterfly that was enjoying the nectar from the Veronica flowers. These flowers, also known as Speedwell, must be very attractive, as when we bought them at the nursery, a bee was hovering on them, even as we pushed them around on our cart.

This time, I was able to grab the Olympus E-500 with a zoom lens on it, and got a few nice shots of this visitor to the garden. As usual, you can click on any of the pictures for a larger version that will let you see more detail.

This particular butterfly has different markings on the top and bottom of the lower wing set, and it was fluttering its wings occasionally. However, most of the time, it was just holding them together while enjoying the nectar from the Veronica blossoms.

As you can tell by comparing the Tiger Swallowtail photos in the last post, the Olympus does a much better job at capturing fine detail than the little Gateway camera can handle. I had hoped to get a good shot of the open wings on this guy, but when he opened them, it was only for a quick little flutter, and I only managed to get the open with some blurring. The third photo in this post is the best I got of the wing tops.

By doing a little research, I have identified this fellow as a variety of butterfly called a Painted Lady. These are one of the most ubiquitous butterflies in the world.


Above: Another crisp shot of this beautiful Painted Lady Butterfly

Below: View of wing tops on this butterfly