One of the joys of summer is to watch butterflies flit from one flower to the next. They can be frustrating for a photographer trying to capture these beautiful bugs since they don’t stay still for long. Butterflies can look so different when their wings are closed than they do with open wings. One such example is the common blue butterfly in the photo above. On the outside, their wings are white with little orange spots but once they relax and open up, they have beautiful blue wings. After watching them dance through the air, it’s easy to see why there are butterfly collectors and so much inspiration comes from these little insects.

Usually an adventure does not begin by searching for butterflies but they make the adventure more enjoyable. While the opportunity to watch butterflies float through the air has been very limited, those I have seen have brought moments of peace and joy. Many times the caterpillar form is less than spectacular, but there are some that have great colors and patterns as they crawl around in search of food. One of those is the monarch. Unfortunately these are becoming more of a challenge to find. It seems like any time I see one on my milkweed plants, the next day they’re gone. My family use to collect them off a plant and raise them to see the change into a beautiful butterfly.  Once they emerged with their colorful wings, they would be released to find nectar and lay more eggs.

Off to find more colorful ornaments of the air.