With thousands of gorgeous flowers blooming at Brookside Gardens in Wheaton, Maryland today, this beautiful butterfly, which I think is a Variegated Fritillary (Euptoieta claudia), chose to land on a lowly dandelion growing at the edge of a walkway. Why did it make that choice?
I had been chasing this butterfly around though several sections of the garden, hoping desperately that it would land somewhere within range of my 100mm macro lens. When it did finally land, I approached it cautiously and got a few shots handheld that came out pretty well. I am also including a shot that gives you an idea of the setting—there was a landscape timber to the left and a series of stone tiles that made up the walkway, and the dandelion was growing low to the ground at the edge of the walkway. The lighting was less than optimal, but sometimes you have to work with what you have, especially when the subject is likely to fly away at any moment.
I deliberated for quite some time over the identification of the butterfly. At first, I was sure that it was a Pearl Crescent (Phyciodes tharos), which is orange and has brown spots. As I looked at more photos, though, I changed my mind and now think that it may be a Variegated Fritillary.
As always, I welcome assistance on the identification of my subjects.
Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved
Mike Powell 
Good call, Mike. Crescents are much smaller, and Variegated Frittilaries are the most common frittilary you’re likely to see there.
The dandelion probably has a lot more nectar than flowers bred by man. Often to get larger, more colorful flowers plant breeders have to sacrifice something else, like fragrance or nectar production. That’s why you see so many beautiful roses that have no scent at all.
That makes a lot of sense. Many of the roses with the huge blossoms and gorgeous colors in fact were hybrids.
Grand detail in that first shot. Fine work, Mike!
Thanks, Gary. I a happy that I was able to get that kind of detail while hand-holding the macro lens, which does not have any built-in image stabilization.
Those butterflies are tough to photograph because they move around so much. Great work!
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