I was delighted to spot this Common Wood Nymph butterfly (Cercyonis pegala) this past Wednesday at the edge of the hike-bike trail on the back side of Huntley Meadows Park, a county-run marshland park in Alexandria, Virginia. I love the distinctive yellow patch on its wing and its really cool eyes with vertical stripes. Common Wood Nymphs usually like to hang around near the edges of the woods rather than in the fields that many butterflies seem to prefer.
Generally I like to get the plane of the sensor of my camera sensor as close to parallel as possible with my subject, so that the entire subject is in focus. In this case, though, a large mass of thorny vines kept me from being able to get my desired shooting angle and consequently the focus on the left-hand side of the subject is a little soft. That being said, I am nonetheless pretty happy with this shot of a cool-looking butterfly that I don’t see very often.
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.
Mike Powell 
Such a beautiful butterfly. Great photo.