Like many people across North America today, I took a break from my afternoon to view (with safe eclipse-viewing glasses) the solar eclipse. I definitely looked up often enough to gauge the progress of the eclipse, which only reached about 80% coverage here. However, unlike many, maybe even most people watching today’s event, I spent the rest of my time taking photos of butterflies and wildflowers.
It was a bright sunny day at our family prairie prior to the eclipse, which is not good light for photography. But as the moon slid in front of the sun, the intensity of sunlight was reduced enough that I had about 20 minutes or so of pretty decent photo light. What am I supposed to do, waste it? I’m not going to have another chance to photograph butterflies under a (mostly) total solar eclipse in North America for 20 more years!
There were quite a few orange sulphur butterflies hanging around our prairie today. Most of them were sitting on the ground, looking pretty low on energy. It was breezy enough that flight seemed difficult for them, but even so, they didn’t seem to be trying hard.
I don’t think they were mesmerized by the eclipse, but who’s to know? Maybe they were recent migrants, tired from a long flight. Alternatively, (and reasonable, based on their vibrant color), they were freshly emerged from chrysalises. Neil Dankert, a renowned butterfly expert who tolerates my sporadic emailed questions, says the fresh emergence hypothesis is the most likely, but either is possible. Regardless, I was able to slide up close to several of them with my macro lens and get some nice shots..
I did stop and check out the eclipse action now and then. I also took my legally-mandated selfie with eclipse glasses to prove that I wasn’t dumb enough to stare at the sun with naked eyes.
As the moon started uncovering the sun again, I switched my attention to some of the ground plum (Astragalus crassicarpus), which continues to bloom here and there on the drier slopes of the prairie. I expected maybe I’d see some of the sulphurs feeding on the flowers, but no dice. I wonder if they’re the kind of flowers that make all their nectar overnight and run out after the first pass of pollinators of the morning. I tried to look it up online but didn’t find anything. …I didn’t look very hard.
Welp, this will be my last butterfly-photography-under-mostly-total-solar-eclipse post until at least 2044. I’m sure blogs will be just as popular then as they are now, so you can all wait with baited breath and bells on for that post.
The Prairie Ecologist 
Great spring pics. It was sporadic cloudy here in central Texas, but it got DARK! All the best J. Watt
The expected storm cloud cover here ½ way between Austin and Houston TX just cleared enough for me to see the 98 percent eclipse. I listened and noted the wildlife. The mosquitoes came out, the birds still sang, although I saw one go to roost. The cattle were very quiet. Everything was still. There was a cloud blanket all morning, cleared some just for the eclipse and clouded over again with rain about one hour later. Bit of luck, that. The eclipse atmosphere where you were on the Prairie seems to have brought out the colors of the ground plum. A lovely plant. I wonder if the sulphurs found something to snack on elsewhere. Maybe they went to ground thinking it was the gloaming. Great Selfie! LOL.
What a beautiful butterfly.
Thank you for your post. It generates a couple questions.
Thanks so much,
Judy Barnard in Rockford, IL
Hi Judy,
1. The top (dorsal) side of the wings, especially on the males, has a lot of orange, which must be where the name comes from.
2. Not too much right now. Pussytoes, ground plum, and dandelions were the major flowers at our family prairie yesterday. In other sites, henbit (non-native), prairie dandelion (Nothocalais cuspidata), and windflower (Anemone caroliniana) are blooming. Wild plum is coming soon, which will be an important one.
3. I didn’t photograph the sun directly, so didn’t worry about a filter. Those who did try to photograph the actual eclipse used neutral density filters, i think.
Nice pictures Chris. Do butterfly bodies look like grasshoppers? This is the first time I saw one so closelyAnn
Thanks, especially for the buffalo peas and the prairie false dandelion. The close ups of their yellow stamen stalks is impressive. You have such a gift!
Here in north Texas it was total (and very impressive). But only saw one butterfly.
John I. Blair