A Gray Hairstreak Butterfly
—and More Red Velvet Mite Goodness
I recently saw a small butterfly feeding on our Desert Senna flowers and at first glance I thought it might be a Blue Butterfly. But when I zoomed in with my camera, I was excited to see the butterfly was a new species for me!
After noting the thin hair-like “tails” on the butterfly’s hind wings; an orange spot that looked like a fake eye near these “tails”; and orange, black, & white stripes on its wings, I concluded it was a Gray Hairstreak Butterfly.
Hairstreaks get their name from these “tails”, which many Hairstreaks have on the edge of their hind wings. Many Hairstreaks also have a brightly colored spot resembling an eye at the corner of their hind wings. The fake eye and the “tails” (which resemble antennae & sense organs called palps) can fool predators into mistaking the rear end of the butterfly for the head end, and attacking the wrong end of the butterfly. Clever, eh?
With that fascinating 😊 bit of natural history, and without further ado, here’s my Gray Hairstreak friend, featured on my latest Perpetual Journal page!
You probably noticed my Perpetual Journal art for the week of Jul. 16-22 in 2023 featured our bright red friends the 🔴 Red Velvet Mites. Of course I’ve been looking for them in our yard this summer as well, on mornings after we have a decent rain! I’ve seen Red Velvet Mites in our yard 5 mornings this summer; the highest number I counted this year was 63 Red Velvet Mites on July 3, 2024.
If you want to see more Red Velvet Mite goodness 😍 (including an awesome red-and-white spotted Red Velvet Mite!) check out my July 27, 2023 post Monsoon Madness...and the re-appearance of our Red Velvet Mite friends and my August 10, 2023 post A Magnificent Mighty Mite—Meaning...More Monsoon Magic!
And if you want to see a different Hairstreak Butterfly—a Great Purple Hairstreak Butterfly—and a Blue Butterfly, see my art of both of these butterflies in my April 20, 2023 post Butterflies & Dragonflies & Crane Flies, Oh My!
Here’s a quote that’s very suitable for my Perpetual Journal:
“Painting is just another way of keeping a diary.”
- Pablo Picasso
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