Yes, they're still there.
More today than yesterday. That's how it goes in the Magical World of Butterflies.
The Gulf Fritillaries (Agraulis vanillae) are keeping busy, and so is this insect wedding photographer trying to capture their images.
There! A Gulf Fritillary has just emerged from her chrysalis on the passionflower vine, and a suitor descends within minutes. He doesn't use any pick-up lines. He doesn't have to. In seconds, there's a twosome on the passionflower vine, something apparently rarely seen. (The Bohart Museum of Entomology, UC Davis, answers telephone calls from folks who excitedly proclaim they've found a "two-headed butterfly.")
Soon another suitor appears...three heads...a three-headed butterfly?...and flutters away.
Meanwhile, other brides and grooms meet and greet. It's like being on the Las Vegas strip with all the wedding chapels occupied.
Just another day in the Magical World of Butterflies.
Attached Images:
Gulf Fritillaries (Agraulis vanillae) are keeping busy on a Vacaville (Calif.) passionflower vine. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Not one, not two, but three Gulf Fritillaries. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
A twosome on a passionflower vine. The Bohart Museum of Entomology gets calls from people who say they've found a "two-headed butterfly." (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
The orangish-reddish Gulf Fritillaries are spectacular butterflies, with silver-spangled underwings. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Two Gulf Fritillaries unite, and soon, more eggs, more caterpillars, more chrysalids and mroe adults. (Photo by Kathy Keatley)