Anyway, August 6th and the star of the walk was one of my favorite butterflies, Leptotes marina, aka, the marine blue. I think it's a pretty little butterfly but one of the main reasons I like to take pictures of it is because it's such a pain in the ass to do so. They flutter rather hysterically, they don't typically light on anything for very long and they rarely open their wings--usually only during mating. Although, they do that with some frequency (multiple brooding). On the beauty side they are so distinctly different looking between wings closed and wings open you'd almost think it was a different butterfly.
Here are some images from 080617 (yeah, that's month, day and year--I've been labeling images like that forever and I'm not about to change).
All of these were taken while butterflies were attempting to mate on a Baja fairy duster bush (Calliandra californica). That's where I most typically find them in this botanical garden.
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Just to round out this post, here are some other images I've taken over the last few years of Leptotes marina. These may appear elsewhere in this blog.
At home, Leptotes marina is everywhere right now. They are known to breed extensively on Plumbago and we have several large Plumbago plants on the property.
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| Ovipositing on Plumbago buds. |
Another plant they frequent back in the local botanical garden, Westringia 'Blue Gem'.
And back to the Baja fairy duster...
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| Head on. |
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| This was taken 3 years before the 3rd shot above. Ah, same old, same old. |
Thanks for stopping by. Be good and have fun.
