Definitely an elfin
This little butterfly is either the Frosted Elfin (Callophrys irus) or Henry's Elfin (Callophrys henrici). I am leaning towards the former species.
I photographed it in College Park, Maryland around noon today. Because of its diminutive size, when I first saw it I thought it was a moth. The picture below will give you an idea of its size relative to the leaves and the grass blades.
Adult Frosted Elfins are around in the spring for a rather short period of 2 months or so. This is the first time I have photographed this species. Hopefully, the next time the pictures will be better.
1 comment:
it's great that you got a picture. Henry's Elfin here is tied to the blooming of certain legumes and generally the flight season is only a couple of weeks. besides that they tend to frequent the highest blooms on the plants (which are smallish trees here -- ca. 15 feet) and getting photos is ridiculously difficult. i've been trying this spring, and failed, and now they're gone.
tony g
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