Summer Azure

Here's a Summer Azure showing how they got the azure part of their name. (Since this picture is from June, I'm considering it to be a Summer Azure rather than a Spring Azure.)

Though I'm sure I benefited from particularly favorable lighting, this picture shows off the blue you can see when they open their wings. (I wish I had gotten a fully-open wing shot, but this was the best I could do.) This is a butterfly that would probably impress people more if they were larger and thus harder to overlook.

Similar to birds, I'm fairly confident that the brightness of the blue in this picture indicates this is a male; generally I'd expect females to be drabber in color. This individual also has a more vibrant look than their distant cousins, the Eastern Tailed-Blues.

June 20, 2023 at Washington Valley Reservoir
Photo 301112499, (c) jpviolette, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC)


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