Yesterday was a beautiful spring day and I finally managed to photograph my first butterfly of the year, a Cabbage White (Pieris rapae) that I spotted in the underbrush at Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge. Within the past two weeks I have had several sightings of larger butterflies that overwinter as adults, including the Mourning Cloak and the Question Mark/Eastern Comma butterflies, but was unable to capture images of them.
This little butterfly almost certainly emerged recently from a chrysalis and is a female, judging from the two black spots on each of the forewings (males have a single spot on each forewing). Cabbage White butterflies, known by many different names, originated in Europe and have now spread to many parts of the world including Australia and New Zealand, according to Wikipedia.
I look at the butterfly as a beautiful little creature, but in its caterpillar form it is considered to be a dangerous agricultural pest that is responsible for large-scale damage to the cruciferous plants on which it voraciously feeds. As adults, however, Cabbage Whites butterflies feed on nectar from many flowers, including dandelions, red clover, asters, mint, and strawberries and do not cause any damage.
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.
Mike Powell 
“Firsts” always are delightful. I saw my first Monarch (or Viceroy, or Queen) on Sunday. It was flying fast and erratically, but it was there. There will be more.
It is so exciting to see the “first” of a new season. I am usually so thrilled that standards go out the window and I am happy to capture any shot at all. Later in the season there will be more chances to get better shots. It is too early for us to have Monarchs of Viceroys, which I love to see, and it is nice that you have some of them already.
I can appreciate the joy in seeing a butterfly in March but, I must admit as an avid gardener, I am not happy to see cabbage whites. I fight those caterpillars a throughout the growing season.
I understand completely your perspective, Ann. Quite a number of the weeds and pests that I enjoy photographing are nuisances or threats to those who grow flowers and crops.
We haven’t seen any butterflies up here yet. Thanks for sharing these pretty pictures.
They are still few in numbers, but it was sunny and in the mid 60’s yesterday and I looked hard for the butterflies. This one was flitting all about, rarely pausing to perch, and I had to chase it all around to get the shots. I looked equally hard for dragonflies, but have not found any yet.
Beautiful and I learned a few things too!
Thanks, Jo. I always like to try to learn a little about the subjects that I photograph and to share that info with others. Initially I was simply trying to identify them, but I regularly run across fascinating bits of information about them.
Nice set of images Mike!
Thanks, Reed.
Very nice, Mike, and happy to hear you are experiencing some spring joy!
Thanks, Ellen. Technically spring has just started and I anticipate more joy to come as we move deeper into it. 🙂
I saw three damselflies yesterday, so I know we are on our way!
I am only a little jealous that you have them there already. 🙂
Beautiful. I love butterflies. I remember doing a project about them when I was eleven and had to stand up in front of the class to do a presentation and then let them ask me questions!
What a cool memory, Tricia. Butterflies are fascinating subjects–there is something almost miraculous in their metamorphosis from caterpillars to butterflies.
Definitely.
Second image is stunning! I’ve never experienced one of these sit still long enough for a photo – bravo for your lenses and finesse to capture w/o intimidating.
Thanks, Jazz. The second image is in fact my favorite of the two. Unfortunately the Reader part of WordPress does not like images in portrait mode and cuts them off in the initial view–normally I lead with my favorite image. This variety of butterflies as you know is really skittish. I happened to have my long lens on my camera, which sound like an advantage with a subject like this, but it requires me to be at least nine feet from the subject in order to focus on it. As it was, I ended up focusing manually. It is a never-ending challenge to get as close to a subject as I can to capture details, but not so close as to scare it away. My favorite lens for this is a 180mm macro lens, which lets me capture shots with lots more detail than I got here (check out this posting to see what I mean https://michaelqpowell.com/2020/07/03/cabbage-white-butterfly-in-july/)