A Bunch of Red-spotted Purples

I actually got to meet 3 Red-spotted Purples 1 day last May. As this day shows, if you're in the right place at the right time, you can run across them semi-regularly. Of course, "place" can mean different things; this place had 2 Red-spotted Purples interacting with each other, while each of the 1s in this post were seen separately and may have never met 1 another [1].

If you see a largish dark butterfly, it's usually worth trying to get a better look. Sure, sometimes they'll flutter away faster than you can pursue, but if you do get a good look you'll almost certainly discover that the butterfly is more colorful than you realized. These guys will reward you with that black contrasting with the light blue plus those orange spots.

This is another species that isn't especially partial to drinking nectar, probably accounting for the lack of flowers in these pictures. In the 1st and maybe the 2nd picture it's possible that the butterfly was hoping to find some trace of biological fluids to drink on the ground.

May 25, 2023 at Duke Farms
Photo 292816738, (c) jpviolette, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC)

May 25, 2023 at Duke Farms
Photo 292817074, (c) jpviolette, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC)

May 25, 2023 at Duke Farms
Photo 292817942, (c) jpviolette, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC)

[1] They were all within walking distance of 1 another though, since I did that walking.

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