tickled pink | Winged Beauty Butterflies

American Copper Butterfly photographed by Jeff Zablow at Raccoon Creek State Park. Jeff blogs about the art and science of butterflies at http://www.wingedbeauty.com

I figured that’s it. That’s it for those sweet little butterflies, the Coppers. Shown here is an American Copper, photo’d several years ago. I’ve not seen an American copy this 2016, not a one!

No shock that I Love these Coppers. I’ve seen Bronze Coppers, thought few and far between, in western Pennsylvania and at Blackwater National Wildlife Refuge in coastal Maryland. Other species of Coppers are found in the few cranberry bogs still remaining east of the Mississippi, and in northernmost Maine. Others are found west of the Mississippi, beckon, and I don’t know when??

But I have News! On Monday, July 11th and again on Tuesday, July 12, 2016 I hiked through backcourtry in Cattaraugus County, western New York State, and headed to a wild cranberry (acid) bog. Bog Coppers were flying their low, very-difficult to follow flight! Tiny ( 0.9″ from wing-tip to wing-tip) Lycaena epixanthe males and females! Eureka!!! Super rare, always threatened butterflies.

Two gorgeous mornings, with sun, moderate temperatures and no wind. But, I don’t recommend this to most of you. Every, every, every, every step you take in such a bonafide ancient bog, has your feet sinking, with the mud grabbing at your boots/watershoes. Meaning, every step must be followed by effort, effort to pull your foot out of the muck grabbing at it. Not only is that weird, but by that second morning, my calves began to Ache! I mean seriously ache!!

I was tickled pink! with many exposures of Bog coppers. Yes, I’m not ready to share one yet, ’cause again, ‘Yo shoots, film. Fuji slide film. So the wait begins. Mail film to Parsons, Kansas. Have slide processed and returned to me. Review slides on lightbox, cull out the best, and then, then, bring those to Rewind Memories to be scanned.

Sooooo why share this American copper image now. C’mon do I have to list the many motives for that?

Bog copper images, ASAP.

Jeff

Every quality butterfly field guide for the United States includes images of Speyeria idalia, the Regal fritillary butterfly. Some guides used their own images. Some sought permission from photographers and then credited photos. Years passed by, and Jeffrey wanted to meet this rare of rare butterflies, and capture good images of them, males and females.

I learned that their site would be open for 4 days in June 2015. I immediately made a reservation, and weeks later there I was at Fort Indiantown Gap military reservation in Lebanon county, Pennsylvania. If you’re planning on driving, it’s just east of our state capitol in Harrisburg.

And I am tickled pink that I did! Hundreds of years ago they flew within ½ miles of my East Flatbush street in Brooklyn. Not anymore, though. Regal Frits are gone from New York, gone from Massachusetts , gone from Virginia, and gone from West Virginia! Why? you ask? I do not know the answer to that.

The day I went rain was predicted, and instead I got a full day of sun. It was a day that I met, and approached the Regals. They allowed approach when they were sipping nectar on Butterfly weed. Sometimes they permitted me to come within 24 inches of their royal presence. I even followed a mated pair off the trail. You can see that photograph in an earlier post.

My proprietary image is one of the others that I have posted here. It was sunny with no wind. The butterflies were poised and many were fresh. I was thankful to be there, savoring those moments. That was good, very good. That was in 2015. What will we see this year, 2016?

Jeff