magical butterfly | Winged Beauty Butterflies

Brushfoot Butterfly photographed by Jeff Zablow at Mt. Meron, Israel

Here’s a Brushfoot butterfly that I met on a trail in Mt. Meron in the HolyLand (Israel). I was on a trail I had hiked several times over the years. Many of the butterflies I had seen on that wondrous trail were new to me, and some were ‘Protected’ butterflies, few in number or now found in limited habitat. June was the month.

When this mystery one appeared and landed on this rocky outcrop, some 2/3 up the northern face of Mt. Meron, I blossomed with excitement. I knew I’d never met this one before, and I knew, as happens, I might not meet it again for years, many years. The usual ‘Comments’ are anticipated: I’m too far away from this magical butterfly or We’d need a dorsal image of its wings to make an ID!

It is what it is, and I do want to know what it is. Much time pouring through Dubi Benyamini’s field guide has not left me with that.

This time, I hope that Israeli butterfly authorities Yaron or Oz or . . . .

Jeff

Appalachian Brown Butterfly photographed by Jeff Zablow in Piedmont National Wildlife Refuge, GA

Sharing this photo of an Appalachian Brown butterfly pleases me very much. These butterflies of swamps and wet woods have something special about them. When you spot one, you have got to crack a smile, for these are not butterflies that you can meet at your whim. They appear when they appear, and when they decide to, Poof! they are gone.

This magical butterfly was seen in the Piedmont National Wildlife Refuge in central Georgia’s Piedmont region.

Butterflies out of the sun, in the reduced light of the forest’s understory.

Jeff