Butt on Butterfly Bush

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Originally Posted by Elbowed Pierrot

nice back lit shot

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Thanks, guru! :grin2:

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Originally Posted by Common Mime

Have to concur with the rest that this backlit shot is indeed very nice and well compose. It is especially so for a not so easy to photograph butterfly, a Lemon Emigrant.

One stupid question though, how to differentiate the gender? ;P

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Yes, as most of us know, this species flies around like it is jet-propelled and the only chance is the 1/2 or 1s stops at flowers, particularly for the females. For this species, the males generally have very thin marginal borders whilst the females have thick borders on both the fore and hindwings.

In our field guide, on pages 28/29, you can see the different forms of males and females. The gender of the butterflies is shown on the side of the photos (in very small lettering).

Nice shot... love the backlighting! :thumbsup:

Cheers!

Khew: The typical species that feeds on the butterfly bush here has about a 2-3 month life. There is intense pressure on these species to develop, feed, and mate. It seems logical that a strong scent would attract butterflies given the need to accomplish a lot in a short period of time. By contrast, it seems to me, you have a population that more or less thrives all year round. Perhaps I'm wrong, but if correct, there would less pressure on them to visit fragrant flowers that are less nutrious than other plants which don't smell as nice, but which might be more nutritious. This has been an interesting thread... but one that I doubt we will resolve! William