Sulphur and aster

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Sulphur and aster

October 23, 2015 by Mike Powell

The large butterflies seem to be gone, but I continue to occasionally see smaller sulphur butterflies nectaring on late blooming flowers.

There are several different varieties of sulphur butterflies that look a bit alike, so I am not certain in identifying this butterfly. At first I thought that this might be a Pink-edged Sulphur (Colias interior), but the range maps suggest that we may not be in the correct geographic region for that species.

I think it is more likely that this is a Clouded Sulphur butterfly (Colias philodice). As for the flower, it looks to me to be some variety of aster.

The weather is definitely getting colder—I had to scrape frost off my car’s windshield earlier this week—so I don’t know how much longer I’ll be seeing these little beauties. Beauty so often is transitory; all we can do is enjoy it and appreciate it until it is gone.

Posted in Autumn, Butterflies, Flowers, Nature, Photography | Tagged Alexandria VA, aster, Canon 50D, Clouded Sulphur, Clouded Sulphur butterfly, Colias philodice, Huntley Meadows Park, Tamron 150-600mm telephoto | 9 Comments

9 Responses

on October 23, 2015 at 6:49 am | Reply afrenchgarden

Beautiful shots. These little asters really attract so many visitors. Amelia
on October 23, 2015 at 6:57 am | Reply Steve Schwartzman

There’s that latitude difference again: it’s 74° outside my house in Austin as I write this. What is that strange thing called “frost” that you wrote about?
on October 23, 2015 at 12:50 pm | Reply Lee

Beautiful colors.
on October 23, 2015 at 2:31 pm | Reply Charlie@Seattle Trekker

I can’t tell the sulphur butterfly’s apart either, but it does not make your images any less beautiful; really fond of Asters.
on October 23, 2015 at 3:56 pm | Reply Jet Eliot

lovely photos, Mike — you captured the delicate nature of the sulphurs and the flowers of which they partake.
- on October 24, 2015 at 4:44 am | Reply Mike Powell
  
  Thanks, Jet. I find it pretty challenging to get good shots of these little butterflies. They are delicate, as you mentioned, and their colors are tinged with a kind of grittiness that can become too exaggerated when processing the images.
on October 23, 2015 at 7:05 pm | Reply Katherine Wikoff

Beautiful colors, especially the first photo!
- on October 24, 2015 at 4:41 am | Reply Mike Powell
  
  Thanks, Katherine.
on October 25, 2015 at 9:31 am | Reply New Hampshire Garden Solutions

Nice shots. They don’t sit still for very long here.