As I was ending a photo shoot of sunflowers last month with some fellow photographers, one of them noticed a pretty butterfly perched on a leg of one of our tripods.
The butterfly remained on the tripod leg for a long time and appeared to be licking the leg, prompting us to speculate that there might be residual salt from sweaty hands on the leg. Of course, we all gathered around the tripod and tried to snap photos of the butterfly. Eventually the butterfly flew off to some nearby vegetation, where I got this shot of a butterfly that I have not been able to identify.
As we go ready to walk back to our vehicle, the butterfly perched on the pant leg of one of the other photographers and then on my shirt before flying away again. After stowing our gear in the trunk, we figured that we had seen the last of the butterfly.
However, as we were slowly driving away, we noticed that the butterfly was inside the car, eventually moving to the windshield, right in front of the driver. We helped the butterfly out of the car with the aid of a CD cover, but had to admire its persistence—the butterfly really seemed to want to go home with us.
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved
Mike Powell 
Cool ‘bug’, Mike. I’ve never seen the side view before, but bet it’s a Hackberry Emperor (Asterocampa celtis).
Thanks, Joe for helping me with an identification again. I had trouble finding photos of butterflies with these colors and the large number of eye spots. Now that you have pointed me in the right direction, it sure looks like a Hackberry Emperor, a new species for me.
That’s a really good looking one!
It’s a beauty!
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