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rjlittlefield
Joined: 06 May 2005
Posts: 727
Location: Richland, WA, USA
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 Posted: Thu Apr 27, 2006 11:39 pm Post subject: Blue butterfly: small but cooperative |
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Well, the butterflies aren't really active yet out here in the Pacific Northwest. But since it seems to be butterfly week, I'll contribute this shot from the archives. This is a typical small male blue (Euphilotes sp.), sucking up salts from soil near a campfire circle.
Sigma 105mm, cropped from roughly 1:2 image.
Handheld, natural light, f/16, 1/160 sec, ISO 400.
In all fairness, I have to admit that this particular little fellow was rather more approachable than most.
To illustrate this point, and for the sake of scale, I offer...
...the finger?
Hope this brings a small smile to your faces. 
--Rik
Last edited by rjlittlefield on Fri Apr 28, 2006 8:55 am; edited 1 time in total |
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Ken Ramos
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Joined: 04 May 2004
Posts: 4809
Location: Western North Carolina
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| Posted: Fri Apr 28, 2006 2:52 am Post subject: |
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That is a great photograph Rik. Thanks for showing us the butterfly and giving us the "finger," as a size comparison of course. Hope those prints don't connect you to anything. 
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Kens Microscopy
Reposts of my images within the galleries are welcome, as are constructive critical critiques. |
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S. Alden
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Joined: 29 Apr 2004
Posts: 2780
Location: Pennsylvania, USA
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| Posted: Fri Apr 28, 2006 5:10 am Post subject: |
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Nice BF. These guys can be cooperative if the weather is a bit cool. They just cannot seem to get going until it warms up a bit.
Nice finger prints
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Sue Alden
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Beetleman
Joined: 02 Apr 2006
Posts: 362
Location: Southern New Hampshire USA
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| Posted: Fri Apr 28, 2006 7:15 am Post subject: |
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Wonderful shots RiK, super small subject. In the first pic, you can see that he (or she) was interested in sucking something from the ground, its Proboscis is out, maybe moisture or something formenting or sweet.
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twebster
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Joined: 19 Apr 2004
Posts: 1518
Location: Phoenix "Valley of the Sun", Arizona, USA
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| Posted: Fri Apr 28, 2006 7:37 am Post subject: |
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Hi ya' Beetleman,
Butterflies "puddle" around moist spots to ingest minerals that are dissolved in the water. I have seen Two-Tailed Swallowtail butterflies in Arizona "puddle" on fresh cow urine to ingest minerals.  I have also witnessed these same swallowtail butterflies "puddling" in moist sand near streams. If you approach slowly and watch carefully you can actually watch water drip from the butterfly's anus. The minerals are the butterfly's equivalent of electrolytes in blood.
Rik...Great shot Love the details in the butterfly and the finger adds a great scale point. Just be careful which finger you're using 
Best regards,
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Tom Webster
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rjlittlefield
Joined: 06 May 2005
Posts: 727
Location: Richland, WA, USA
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| Posted: Fri Apr 28, 2006 8:35 am Post subject: |
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| twebster wrote: | | Butterflies "puddle" around moist spots to ingest minerals that are dissolved in the water. ... If you approach slowly and watch carefully you can actually watch water drip from the butterfly's anus. The minerals are the butterfly's equivalent of electrolytes in blood. |
Adding a couple of details that I find interesting about this behavior...
1. The puddlers are overwhelmingly male -- like >99%. As far as I know, the reasons for this are still unclear. It is known that butterflies often transfer nutrient packets from male to female during mating, and that these nutrient transfers let the females live longer. [ref] Presumably puddling lets the males make bigger and better packets, resulting in mates that lay more eggs, and so on. But why do the females uniformly "prefer" to get their salts in other ways, while the males cluster around the puddles? [Insert bar joke here... ]
2. It's not restricted to puddles! I have seen little blues probing with their proboscis on surfaces that I would swear had to be completely dry. I suspect that in these cases the butterfly is regurgitating a bit of fluid, letting it dissolve salts from the surface, then sucking it back up. Like licking a potato chip, maybe.
--Rik |
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nzmacro
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Joined: 20 Apr 2004
Posts: 1604
Location: New Zealand
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| Posted: Sat Apr 29, 2006 5:35 pm Post subject: |
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Gotta love the scale in this and the ratio. Nice work Rik
All the best up there and well done.
Danny. |
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rjlittlefield
Joined: 06 May 2005
Posts: 727
Location: Richland, WA, USA
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| Posted: Sat Apr 29, 2006 6:23 pm Post subject: |
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Thanks for the compliments, folks!
I really like butterflies, but I completey agree with Tom that some kinds are hugely frustrating to photograph.
To be completely honest, that would be "try photographing".
There are quite a few that I've never caught holding still long enough to focus on --- if they even bother to land at all!
This little fellow was quite a pleasant change.
--Rik |
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