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Red Admiral I have been trying for quite a while to get close up shot of a red admiral butterfly. They are particularly flighty! This individual was more willing to sit still . . . as long as I didn&#039;t move too much.<br /> <br /> You can see a bit of its iridescence to the left. It seems many butterflies are iridescent if you can get close enough with the sun at the right angle. Geotagged,Red Admiral,United States,Vanessa atalanta,Winter Click/tap to enlarge

Red Admiral

I have been trying for quite a while to get close up shot of a red admiral butterfly. They are particularly flighty! This individual was more willing to sit still . . . as long as I didn't move too much.

You can see a bit of its iridescence to the left. It seems many butterflies are iridescent if you can get close enough with the sun at the right angle.

    comments (2)

  1. View Ferdy Christant's profile
    Ferdy Christant
    Lion
    View Lion class
    I'm quite surprised you found one in February? Posted 10 years ago
  2. View Meryl Green's profile
    Meryl Green
    Grizzly Bear
    View Grizzly Bear class
    I'm not :P. It's funny, because my idea of what happens in which season is based on what happens in places nearer to your latitude. Even though Florida is quite different, we're still taught in school that flowers and butterflies and robins are for spring and winter is for snow. (Turns out there are more butterflies in fall here, robins come here to winter, and it snows in my area about once every twenty years give or take.)

    It's been crazy weather-wise this week. The low Wednesday morning (the day I took the photo) was 34F/1C, but it was about 55F/13C when I took the photo. Thursday morning the low was about 30F/-1C, and today's high is 81F/27C.

    It does get cold enough to kill butterflies here occasionally, but we just had the first frost of the season Thursday. (It has been a particularly warm winter this year, as generally first frost is near the beginning of January, but the last one is usually around the beginning of February.)

    This is also quite close to a very large lake and an extensive canal and marsh system, which would tend to keep the area just a bit warmer than surrounding areas.

    And butterflies know where to hide so that if we do have freezing weather, as long as it doesn't last too long, they can keep from freezing and come out when it's a little warmer (then they can get help from the sun, like this one is).     Posted 10 years ago

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The Red Admiral

The Red Admiral is a well-known colourful butterfly, found in temperate Europe, Asia and North America. The Red Admiral has a 45–50 mm wing span. The species is resident only in warmer areas, but migrates north in spring, and sometimes again in autumn.

Info 85 2
Similar species: Moths And Butterflies
Species identified by Meryl Green
View Meryl Green's profile

By Meryl Green

All rights reserved
Uploaded Feb 22, 2015. Captured Feb 18, 2015 11:37 in Lake Apopka Loop Trail, Clermont, FL 34715, USA.
country flag of United States of America Explore United States of America 39,925 9,640 8
  • Canon EOS REBEL T3
  • f/10.0
  • 1/320s
  • ISO200
  • 250mm
Captured in the winter. More winter photos.