The Eyes Have It! (Three Photographs)

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These are Mourning Cloak Butterflies, the earliest butterflies you see in our neck of the woods; they over-winter and come out twice a year in the spring and again in the fall. There is a certain tree that leaks sap that attracts them in numbers. I noticed this last year and did a post about these butterflies. Their eyes have a checkerboard pattern and look a bit like soccer balls. The damaged wings show age.

I am a big fan of insect photography and would love to do it year round (not a hope in Canada). I used a 105mm lens and in two of the three photographs I used flash and a soft box because in the deep woods the light is poor. The edges of the wings suffered a bit under both natural and flash lighting. I was aiming for the eyes and kneeling in mud. Mourning Cloaks are dark-winged with only a bit of color in their wings; they are better camouflaged when their wings are closed. You often see them flying around defending turf or resting on the ground looking for salt. (You can see this in my post of 18 July.)