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Thursday, March 5, 2009

I Have the Blues...


...but not of the woe-is-me kind. Thank God! These pale common
blue butterflies have fascinated me for quite a while. They may
not be the blue-blooded members of the order Lepidoptera but
they're lovely in pale or dusky blue.

When the wings are at rest you only see the grey intricate
patterns on a white background. There's more of grey, though.
And difficult to photograph too, because they fly fast and when
they settle on the ground, or leaf, or bloom, it's only for a
short while.



There are so many kinds of garden spiders and I'd taken a
photo of this one the moment I'd seen it.

Little did I realise that a few days later I'd see this one
pretty blue butterfly in its clutches.

I gently pulled it away from the spider thinking I could save
it...I realised later it was a mistake and I shouldn't have
done that. I deprived the spider of its meal and did not
save the butterfly either.
Placing it on a leaf I clicked once and as soon as I was done,
a gust of wind blew it away into the midst of that clump of
salvia.

Among the common blue variety there are so many similar-looking
ones. This one does resemble, to a certain extent, the Pale Grass
Blue Zizeeria maha. Among this species, the male is said
to be a lighter shade of blue than the female's duskier one.

With so many winged visitors I thought I'd concentrate on them now.
What a pleasure it is to be outside anticipating which charmer with
wings all a-flutter will say to me, "Come, follow me!"

13 comments:

Anonymous said...

What pretty pictures today. We have a little gift store nearby that is named Flutterbye. You would love walking thru their lovely gardens and gift store - everything is butterfly themed!

tina said...

It is so hard not to try to save the wildlife. I am sure it is grateful to you for at least trying. Lovely flowers and butterflies!

Carla said...

what a happy blue post (except for the spider part-sorry about that:)

Randy Emmitt said...

Kanak,

Thanks for the blues! We get them here too. This time of year we get Spring Azure (Flowering Dogwood flowers), "Spring" Summer Azure (eats about anything) and Atlantic Holly Azure (American Holly flowers). Very hard to tell apart. This is much easier than those western US blues though.

Susie said...

Well as crazy as this statement is I'm ready for the blues now! Actually I'm ready for any butterflies that want to come my way. Shouldn't be long now.

Lavender and Vanilla Friends of the Gardens said...

Hi Sunita, I have a question, are your butterflies patient or are you the patient one? Mine always are off at the first click and are an awfully nervous bunch. I have seen a few times the dance of the butterflies but I was so engrossed watching I forgot to click! These soft blues are enchanting. They also seem to enjoy the mexican heather, I have to check mine.

Lavender and Vanilla Friends of the Gardens said...

Sorry Kanak, I think I have the blues calling you Sunita and I am
calling Sunita, Kanak, I have such a mix up it is only afternoon, I even had a Campari yet! Sorry!

TYRA Hallsénius Lindhe said...

Wonderful photos Kanak as always my friend, I love them. The blue butterfly is gorgeous.

Have a great weekend.

xoxo Tyra

Unknown said...

Mildred, what a lovely name for a gift store. I spent some time photographing more butterflies today. I'll be posting soon.

Tina, thanks. The flowers will hold on till the rains come.

Carla, although stalking/preying happens all the time I'm glad I get to see it only sometimes.

Randy, some day I hope to understand butterflies the way you do. I'll check out the blues at your website. Thanks.

Susie...and the whites, and the yellows...1 That'll be fun!!

Trudi...hmm...m..and you haven't had a Campari yet?! Lol! Happens. That's ok.
When it comes to butterflies, I do have a lot of patience. But earlier, I could never manage a single shot with the wings spread out. Of late, I'm having some luck with them. And you will too.

Here, in the nurseries, I always see a lot of butterflies flitting about the M.heather. Mostly the smaller ones but it's a pretty sight. On mine, usually, the cabbage white and the common grass yellows flit about. I'm sure you won't be disappointed when you check out your heather. Good luck!

Hi Tyra, thanks. Happy to see you here:) I hope you have a great weekend too!

Entangled said...

Thanks for posting your butterfly photos! We won't see any butterflies here for another few weeks, and I'm getting restless waiting for them.

Chandramouli S said...

You're lucky to be able to capture them. I never seem to manage. Either that they're too quick for me to click or that I don't have camera with me at the right time. Awesome photos, kanak.

Meems said...

Hi Kanak,
Hope you are doing well and enjoying the garden. Always enjoy coming to your blog where some of the flowers are the same as we grow here... the salvia and the mexican heather are standards in my garden. Are those nasturtium leaves in the first photo?

LOVE the little blue butterflies. We have cassias here that the plumbago hosts. Soon they will be flying about again. Very fast and hard to photograph but sometimes I get lucky.
Meems @ Hoe and Shovel

Unknown said...

Entangled, I hope it's not going to take too long for them to turn up! Thank you for stopping by.

Chandramouli, thanks. The other day I checked out a butterfly site where the author wrote that the insect needs to get used to your presence. Once that's done, you can go on clicking! Good luck with the shots!

BTW, I can't remember the site-name but it was Vietnamese, and the butterfly shots were amazing!

Meems, hi! Great to have you here. I think you meant the third photo. Yes, I planted the variegated variety for the first time and they're doing really well.

When I visit your garden I end up learning the names of plants that I've had for years but never knew the English names!:) And of course it's good to see some plants that I recognise.
Thank you for your comment on the butterflies..will be on the lookout for cassias now--in blogs.

Have a great Sunday!