perk up | Winged Beauty Butterflies

Red-Banded Hairstreak butterfly, photographed by Jeff Zablow at "Butterflies and Blooms in the Briar Patch," Eatonton, GA

You’ve got to keep your eyes peeled for them. I now know where to find them in the Butterflies & Blooms in the Briar Patch Habitat. I know when to look for them there, where, and I know that you have to look for them, because at 1″ across, wing to wing, they are ‘t’ as in tiny. A Red-banded hairstreak.

They fly roughly from Pennsylvania down to Florida, and have several broods (generations), raising the likelihood that you’ll see one . . . again, if you look. I am always looking, especially here in central Georgia. Why? Well, the southern Red-bandeds have broader, more prominent red-orange bands across their hindwings. I’m a sucker for those red-bands, truth be told.

This gent was camera ready. That band, bordered in white, those 2 pairs of tiny tails, that light blue patch, adequate eyespots, neat spotted legs and antennae and . . . those perky eyes and palps. The whole package.

You can’t help but perk up! when your eyes set on a fresh Red-banded hairstreak like this guy. A Red-banded delight!

Jeff

This northern boy arrived in the Florida Panhandle, and was immediately greeted by Palamedes Swallowtails, lots of them. Here in Big Bend Wildlife Management Area, you see them every few minutes. That’s fun for me, accustomed as I am to seeing swallowtails in Pennsylvania maybe once every 45 minutes, if that.

Papilio palamedes are big butterflies. They fly with a slow, difficult to predict manner. They sip on nectar actively, especially with thistle and other nectar pumping flowers. Photographing these very large butterflies as they sip nectar from blooms is a challenge. They move their wings almost non-stop. Lacking good dorsal (super view) face-time, you perk up when you see one like this, standing motionless on the trail. What a great photograph that will be. Uh, well . . .

Making an approach to a Palamedes on the trail is a Good Way To Lose Your Mind. No sooner than you are the 10 feet away: Bye! bye! There’s a human! This cycle repeated itself, day after day. This butterfly is not bird-struck, and still fresh. So having learned my lesson, I shot photographs from a distance, and am happy to share them with you.

Jeff