Butterfly Beauty

     When I see butterfly collections, I always wonder if each butterfly was caught while it was still alive or found after it had passed away. According to www.learnaboutnature.com, the fourth generation beautiful Monarch butterfly can live up to nine months. That is the longest that I have read concerning the lifespan of a butterfly. This is why I try not to harm a butterfly in any way. Even hitting them with my car causes me distress.

     They are so beautiful and I love watching their playful motions of turns and glides. I really wish that when they eventually did land, that they would stay longer, but with predators and collectors a possibility I understand.
                                                                                   

                                                                             
                  This is a photo of a butterfly called the Viceroy. It resembles the Monarch except is has black lines on the hind wings that cross the vertical ones. You can see them in the photo. This Viceroy is probably a female laying its eggs on the milkweed vine. That is how I had time to capture the photo. An ordinary female butterfly's life consists of eating, pollinating, searching for a mate, laying her eggs and eventually dying unless she becomes a meal for another animal.

Red Spotted Purple

    Besides birds, butterflies to me are the most colorful animals in nature. Colors liven my day and make me happy. Sometimes I will stand outside and they swoop by my head and touch my hair. I don't know why they do this. But they continue to fly around near me, so maybe they know I don't pose a threat to them. I would love to take a picture of a butterfly landing on a person, especially if it landed on their nose. 

                                           

Goatweed Leafwing

                                                                                                   

Red Admiral
                                           

Hackberry Emperor

                                 

                                             

Gulf Fritillary

                                                                   
                                                                                 

Eastern Tailed Blue

                                         

Dish made especially for Butterflies - cut slices of watermelon and oranges are great to add

                         
               

Instead of collecting butterflies, I prefer to collect pictures of them or paint their beauty.

Let the beauty of the Lord our God be upon us. Psalms 90:17

Never lose an opportunity of seeing anything beautiful, for beauty is God's handwriting 
- Ralph Waldo Emerson