Interesting Insects #1

Beautiful Butterflies

When you first embark on a long hike your senses are attuned to big-picture images and thoughts. The scenery. The weather. The aches and pains. The giant mountain ahead of you. Survival. Perhaps there are big exciting animals to distract you. Often there are not. As time passes and the initial awe of the hike wanes you start to notice smaller aspects of the experience. One of the things we have become more attuned to as this journey progresses is the insects among us. So here you find the first in a series of Interesting Insect encounters on the PNT.

Butterflies are bright, beautiful and impossible to ignore when they flit across your path or take a moment to land on you or your pack to suck away the salt accumulating there. Earlier in the season we had several close encounters with a variety of lovely amber butterflies. Here they are!

This Hydaspe Fritillary kept us company in Glacier National Park along a stream near the south end of Waterton Lake. It was a much nicer companion than the mosquitoes who had been nibbling on my hands, or the flies you can see perched on my thumb.

One of my favorite things about butterflies is how different they appear when their wings are closed. Fritillaries like this one have giant silvery spots that really stand out against its dark hind-wings.

This small Northern Checkerspot sucked salt from my finger while overlooking Red Meadow Lake in Western Montana.

You can see how the Checkerspots got their name when you see the striking contrast on the underside of the hind wings.

This Satyr Comma butter is ideally suited for its life in the trees as it is camouflaged against gray bark. The white comma on its hind wing helps give away its name.

And then the comma opens its drab wings and voila, a stunning shock of amber and gold to dazzle the senses. Plus, I just love the abstract, uneven lines of this butterfly's outline.

Stay tuned for the next installment of our interesting insect encounters along the PNT!