Yesterday I took a trail that starts out on what used to be a dirt road. As I was easing into my hike I remembered that, one time, one year, I saw a Milbert’s Tortoiseshell butterfly just about exactly where I was right then. I thought, “Wouldn’t it be great if I saw a Milbert’s Tortoiseshell today?” And then I thought, “Even if I did, they never land on flowers, they usually just sit in the dirt.”
Within a minute or two — possibly less — bam! Along came a Milbert’s Tortoiseshell who posed for me on some gorgeous wildflowers.1 Milbert’s Tortoiseshells are quite rare, at least in my travels. I think they’re drop-dead gorgeous.
Oddly enough, something very similar happened exactly a year ago today.2 I was walking along and saw a Wiedemeyer’s Admiral3 butterfly. I thought to myself, “I really, really want to get a photo of an Arizona Sister today.” I hadn’t been able to get a shot of one for years.
It took longer for my wish to be granted last year — about an hour, if I remember correctly. I’d neglected to specify on a flower, so my Arizona Sister was on the ground.4
My wishes usually aren’t granted at all, at least while I can still remember them. But maybe butterfly wishes are different.
It would be easy to call those flowers purple asters but I think they’re actually some kind of fleabane.
I know it was exactly a year ago today because the date a photo is taken is encoded in the digital file. I am not so organized that I could know that any other way.
Wiedemeyer’s Admirals look somewhat similar to Arizona Sisters, which is how I made the connection last year. As it happens, I got a couple of nice photos of a Wiedemeyer’s Admiral yesterday, so you’ll be seeing those soon too.
Geez, I hate footnotes, at least as a reader. However, I just discovered that this email platform (Substack) makes them easy to set up, and I realize I have lots of side comments, at least today. Don’t be shy — please let me know if you love ’em, hate ‘em, or don’t care one way or another.
The footnotes are not distracting to me at all, Lisa. They're informative and entertaining!
And I do believe you are right! The flowers are purple fleabane :)