Brilliance

Variegated Fritillary

Euptoieta claudia

 

Fortune smiles sometimes. I was leaving my normal spot - which was pretty ravaged by the flooding - and decided to stop in one other place before heading back to work. It was the motherlode - hundreds of bees, butterflies, dragonflies, moths and assorted bugs everywhere in the stands of thistle, milkweed and other normally noxious weeds (but you can't hate them as much when they're covered in things you want to photograph).

 

I followed this butterfly around for quite a while looking for this shot. Unfortuntely, I didn't get any quality ventral shots to go with it, just one semi-blurry one that confirmed the ID (but that I'll never post. It's horrid).

Done