A New Butterfly

 At least in my photographic list. Allow me to introduce the Long-tailed Skipper (Urbanus proteus).  I saw one of these at work the other day, but did not have my camera at hand.

Click on the pictures to see the big versions.

Not the showiest butterfly I've photo-collected, but a little jewel in the right light.  As I've noted before, the Skipper butterflies are a large group with many similar species, especially in the United States, but this one stands out because of the long-tail, and the blue-green "fur" down it's back

Here's a shot showing the blue-green hairy back, which is vaguely reminiscent of a very tiny parrot. 

This action shot shows the color even a bit better.

These shots were taken in my garden on the Butterfly Bush (Buddleia davidii).  Our Joe Pye Weed, which has been a good a butterfly attractor until now, is all but dried up, with only a few stragglers coming by for the dregs.

See what I mean?  But this Pearl Crescent 
(Phyciodes tharos) came anyway.

The Eastern Tiger Swallowtails are still a common visitors, but they're starting to look rather tattered.

This Eastern-Tailed Blue was around a few days ago, and I found it in the camera with these.  This, and the next picture are the same little tiny butterfly, showing how different the upper and lower surfaces of this little girl are.









I have yet to catch a really blue backed one (a male), although this one has some nice iridescence if you look closely.  the wings are.

Oh wait; I do have this photo from July last year that may be one...