Don’t They Know It’s Winter?

This is certainly the last thing I expected to see going on in my backyard in the middle of December, but go figure. Gulf Fritillaries, doing their thing.

 
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Sometimes the outer wings would open, revealing the brilliant orange of that butterfly’s upperside.

gulffritg12-16-10.jpgI wish the camera could have captured the full beauty of the metallic sheen on their underwings, but some of the lustre was lost in the image. Still, wow.

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 The features on this butterfly give it such personality!

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I didn’t tell the butterflies that it’s just about winter here. They didn’t seem to care.