Hello Friends and Family,

Link to this year's index by clicking here.


Butterfly Wonderland, Part 4

Continuing the tour of Butterfly Wonderland, we encounter a White Peacock. Not as colorful of its namesake bird, it does have subtle coloration in orange, brown, off-white and even a hint of pale blue. It is native to the Southern United States plus Central and South America.



Despite my best efforts, I could not identify this species. Perhaps we could come up with our own name — how about an Orange-fringed Black Longwing?


Another unknown — shall we call it an Orange-spotted Sweptwing?


This is a Zebra Longwing. I was particularly interested to note the tiny red spots on the wings near the thorax. They seem too small to deter predators. Perhaps they are there to attract a mate. It lives in the Southern US, Central and South America plus the Caribbean.


This butterfly would appear to be some variety of Swallowtail but I could not find the species. Perhaps we can call it a Pink-Spotted Black Swallowtail.


This fellow has seen better days. Interesting that its wings give the appearance of having feathers. Since I could not find its real name, shall we call it a White Ghostfeather butterfly?


Another unknown — perhaps we could call it a White Striped Red Spot.


Here we find a Tailed Jay, native to Southeast Asia and Australia.


Sorry little fellow that you lost part of your wings. Again no identification but I shall call it a Fringed Black Spot Longwing.


This photo captures a Red Rim, found in the southern US, Central and South America.


This butterfly has the unusual name of Red Cracker. I cannot understand the "Red" since it has blue spots on a black background. The "Cracker" part is due to the unusual way that males produce a "cracking" sound as part of their territorial displays. They are found in Central and South America.


The final butterfly in our multi-week tour is the Blue Spotted Pansy. I shared a different photo earlier but this one was too magnificent to pass up. I hope you have enjoyed the tour of Butterfly Wonderland and that folks in the Phoenix area will be able to take their own butterfly safari.


Life is good.

Aloha,
B. David

P. S., All photos and text © B. David Cathell Photography, Inc. — www.bdavidcathell.com