Henry's Elfin - April 12, 2009

Henry’s Elfin is an uncommon little butterfly that makes its appearance in early spring. Redbud is the host plant and the butterfly times its emergence so that it can lay eggs on the Redbud flowers. Sometimes the butterflies congregate in small swarms that resemble chocolate candy drops bouncing in the air. The adult butterflies are only around for a short time in the spring and I tried for many years to capture one in a good photo. The weather during that time usually seems to be rainy or windy, so it’s hard to find perfect conditions for getting photos. I crawled a long distance through dried Indian Grass stalks in pursuit of this individual.

NOTE: I’m away on a ten day excursion and have left the computer behind. So as not to have a ten day gap in posts, I’ve selected some of my favorite pictures from my pre-blogging days and set them up to automatically post one each day until I return. They may not be the best photo quality, but each identifies something of significance to me and to Blue Jay Barrens. I’ll continue my practice of current posts on July 27, 2011.