Pearl Crescent
This little butterfly has seen better days. It had rained pretty hard earlier in the afternoon, and the sky was still overcast. It was prime butterfly photographing conditions, because they were all spreading their little wings, trying to warm themselves in the non-existent sunlight.
I had a heck of a time identifying him, because I assumed he was some variety of fritillary. I finally stumbled upon a most excellent on-line moth and butterfly identification guide, Butterflies and Moths of North America, published by Montana State University. You can search by location, and most entries seem to have photos to supplement the written descriptions. Another good resource for getting insect and spider photos identified is Bug Guide.
Once I finally identified this little guy, I realized I’d had the exact same mis-identification problem last year (almost exactly a year ago, in fact!), with another Pearl Crescent. Duh!
red paper boat 