Silverwashed Fritillary: Among the Last of ’08

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So soon will end the year of insects (and none too soon for many of you who perhaps don’t share my love of the entomological intricacies and beauties close to my window).

Here, a pair of cooperative butterflies–perhaps over the course of the summer, the most common lepidopt of our valley. While most images will show them in their more typical wings-wide pose from above, you cannot see from that perspective the markings for which they were named.

And although I tried for quite a while and a dozen or more shots, I did not capture the metallic flash of their underwing spots that shine like polished silver. (These two are on the ONE lilac colored spray out of a hundred on an otherwise WHITE butterfly bush.)

See Also:  10 Beautiful Butterflies and Their Ugly Duckling Offspring and Insectigations: 40 Hands-0n Activities to Explore the Insect World

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fred
fred

Fred First holds masters degrees in Vertebrate Zoology and physical therapy, and has been a biology teacher and physical therapist by profession. He moved to southwest Virginia in 1975 and to Floyd County in 1997. He maintains a daily photo-blog, broadcasts essays on the Roanoke NPR station, and contributes regular columns for the Floyd Press and Roanoke's Star Sentinel. His two non-fiction books, Slow Road Home and his recent What We Hold in Our Hands, celebrate the riches that we possess in our families and communities, our natural bounty, social capital and Appalachian cultures old and new. He has served on the Jacksonville Center Board of Directors and is newly active in the Sustain Floyd organization. He lives in northeastern Floyd County on the headwaters of the Roanoke River.

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  1. Once again, lovely photo. I thought the silver wash was darn well illustrated, but if you have seen it more strikingly, I hope you will be able to photograph it for us, too.