Red Admiral-Behind the Scene

The Red Admiral (Vanessa atalanta rubria) is an early migrant in my region of Appalachia. It can be found in April and is an erratic flier. It is a butterfly of woodland edges. The adults prefer to feed on rotting fruit and sap flows. The preferred larval host plants are members of the nettle family (Urtica).

In the month of April, 2010; I spent quite a few minutes trying to get a good photo of the Red Admiral, or even a bad one; with no success. The are so erratic that it is very difficult to get focused. When they leave, they don't just fly a few feet; they often move thirty or more yards. By the time you manage to catch up to the individual butterfly, you tend to be breathing so hard that image stabilization is of no use. Tripod? Yeah, right. Try it.

I was driving down a barely tolerable country road in the Becky's Creek Wildlife Management Area at mid-morning and just happened to see this particular butterfly resting on the side of a tree. I quickly found my camera bag somehere behind my seat. I turned on the camera and zoomed in to 200mm. I walked toward the butterfly, taking shots; every couple of steps. This is the final image, before the butterfly rapidly flew away, never to be seen again. Sometimes you just get lucky.