When I am chasing after little butterflies, it’s rare that I manage to get a shot of them with their wings open—I am lucky if I can get a side view.
This little brown butterfly, which I think is an Appalachian Brown (Satyrodes appalachia), perched in a location, however, which allowed me to shoot downward, catching its wings wide open. The muddy, brown water of the marsh normally would not be optimal for an image, but seem to work well here, almost matching the colors of the butterfly.
I also was able to get a shot from the side, the second image, showing the butterfly’s beautiful brown eyes. There was intermittent rain the day that I was shooting and you can see a few raindrops on the leaves of the plant on which the butterfly is perched.
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved
Mike Powell 
Beautiful!
These are excellent shots. You can even see his antenna clearly.
Patience paid off, those are excellent shots..:-)
Thanks. The first one is a little soft, but I like the overall look of the image.
Lovely shot Mike..
It’s great to get both views and the matching background looks like you planned it.
Often luck beats planning (as you well know). That certainly was the case for the background.
Beautiful
Thanks. Some people prefer bright colors so much that they have trouble seeing beauty in this butterfly–I am glad that you liked it.
Mike, you have some very nice nature photography, a genre I don’t do much of myself. I see lots of comments and that you have Cindy to help you. Looks like you are on a roll.
Do you know Cindy Dyer? She is a neighbor and a wonderful mentor. She got me started with flowers and insects and I have ventured a bit far afield from that, though most of my shots are nature-related.
I don’t know Cindy. You mentioned her somewhere.
I did. You can check her out at http://cindydyer.wordpress.com/. Her photography is amazing! (And you are right, I mention her quite a bit…she is a constant source of inspiration and support. Everyone needs someone like that.
Butterflies are rare in Houston.