Pearl Crescent Butterfly

I went out this evening for a quick photo shoot to play a bit with the new camera. I will sit down and read the manual, and maybe watch the DVD that came with it to learn a bit more about what it can do and how to use it (I understand it takes great video!) but for now I'd rather just play.

I was chasing butterflies around when I stumbled upon this pair of pearl crescents fornicating atop a spotted knapweed flower. Knapweed is an evil plant but it sure is pretty.

The male, I believe, is above, larger and more strongly marked. They are called pearl crescents for the pearly white crescent on the underside of the lower wing, seen pretty clearly here on the male.

I am once again pleased with the results of the 60D. I had to manually focus these but that's OK--either I have the diopter adjustment on the eye piece correct or the focus is more accurate with this camera, truer to what I see. With my Rebel it always looked like the image was in focus but then the images were never quite right, the focal point usually too far forward.

After a bunch of shots from the side I moved around behind them for a different view. According to gardenswithwings.com the range of this butterfly is large, but we are on the very northern edge of it here.

I love it's little up-turned snout.

This image has nothing to do with the butterflies, but I liked it so here it is. Milkweed pods up close, they remind me of pollen under a microscope.