Butterflies and more

Today it seemed like a thunderstorm was coming. It didn't rain, but there was a lot of rumbling. I think it's harder for insects and birds to fly when there's a storm coming, due to the reduced air pressure, so they tend to not waste their energy if they can. I got some great photos of butterflies sitting around.

A white peacock butterfly (Anartia jatrophae) rests in a Lantana bush.

Another white peacock, on the leaf of a hurricane flower plant(Billbergia pyramidalis). Notice the four legs. Your fourth-grade science teacher lied to you when she told you insects all have six legs. Many butterflies do have six legs, but for the Nymphalidae, the front pair of legs remains undeveloped. These butterflies have six legs in much the same sense that humans have a tail.

There are some wild grape vines in the backyard, and sometimes flies, like this one, cling to the dead vines. Up close, their metallic bodies cause them to hardly look alive, more like some robot that someone made.

An ant looks for food on a rubber tree fruit.

A Cassius Blue butterfly (Leptotes cassius). These tiny, hairy butterflies are about the size of a fingernail. If you click the image, to see it in higher resolution, you can make out individual scales in its hindwing eyespot. Those fragile scales give butterflies their interesting coloration.

Here we see a long-tailed skipper, Urbanus proteus, taking nectar from a Lantana flower. These butterflies were abundant today in the backyard.