The Blues are gone!..part 2

Then there is the 'Zebra Blue',

which has stripes on the outside, like a zebra.

But like the others, as the wings open just a little, you get a hint of what is hidden behind the zebra 'stripes' and why he might have 'blue' as part of his name!

You might even know these in Australia, as 'Plumbago Blue', as I found them featured for Brisbane   

So there you go, a butterfly that has probably been around in the gardens where I grew up but I never stopped to look closely and enjoy these beautiful tiny creatures!

These photos below took several occasions of watching because this little butterfly rarely opens his wings when he is stationary…

first the female….

They range in size and sometimes come even smaller like this male below,

   

  

and here is my wedding ring on the leaf for a size comparison..and my ring is only 16mm inside diameter.

And finally, here is the male with the sun at a slightly different angle...

Just stunning!

The Blues are gone!

No I'm not talking about a style of music, feeling depressed or the New South Wales rugby team!

Yes, its butterflies I'm thinking about!…again!

…and therefore, our Awesome Creator!

'The Blues' is what a range of small butterflies is 'commonly' called because most of them have a distinct bit of blue-tone somewhere on them, to be seen when their wings are open, even though they are often a brown tone on the underside. 

Wikipedia says:

Lycaenidae is the second-largest family of butterflies (behind Nymphalidae, brush-footed butterflies), with over 6,000 species worldwide,[1] whose members are also called gossamer-winged butterflies. They constitute about 30% of the known butterfly species. The family is traditionally divided into the subfamilies of the blues (Polyommatinae), the coppers (Lycaeninae), the hairstreaks (Theclinae) and the harvesters (Miletinae).

And they are really tiny - in part 2 of this blog, you will see a size comparison with my wedding ring!

 It's only with zoom photography and the ability to enlarge a photo that you are able to see the extent of the beauty that is there.

Over the last few weeks I haven't really seen any of them in our garden. Maybe its to do with the season changes.  I don't really know.  

But it seems a good time to be reminded of these beautiful tiny butterflies and share them with you too!

First up - The African Grass Blue

The Grass Jewel

The Rayed Blue

Bush Bronze - female

And the Common Hairtail - female

Then there is the 'Zebra Blue',

…which I will reveal in Part 2 of this post…