Mourning Cloak Butterfly

Here's the Mourning Cloak Butterfly, Nymphalis antiopa. It actually passes the winter hibernating as an adult butterfly. Now how cool is that? Notice that it has alighted on an extending beech tree bud. At this time, those buds are fully leafed out.


These were taken on wide angle day, leaving me darting around as I continually interrupted my prey's business.



For a couple of days, the weather's been wet and chilly. It finally broke yesterday, giving me the opportunity to get out around the lake. While I process up the results, here are a few shots from the start of the shoot, these from my front yard.