Sunday, June 27, 2010

red admiral ~ 06/27/10 ~ Rec Trail


red admiral
Vanessa atalanta

The flash went off for the first photograph and I kinda like the result. If all I had was that pic, I'd have a hard time identifying this butterfly. Usually at rest, red admirals show much more of the underside of their forewing with distinctive red, blue, and white stripes (a little early for the 4th of July). Click on the common name above to see what I mean. From the topside, the red stripes makes it obvious which butterfly this is. Red admirals are quite common around here and are indeed common around the world. Like buckeyes, they like to sun themselves in the afternoon on dirty paths, which doesn't make for a pretty backdrop.

2 comments:

Matthew said...

We had a bumper crop this spring of red admirals over here on the other coast. .

Katie (Nature ID) said...

Your Iceland trip looks amazing!