I've always loved these little purple-blue butterflies, and they never hold still enough for me to get close and figure out what they are (or "are-s" as for all I know they could be several species)...
Surprisingly, last time my husband and I were out walking in the 'back yard' of the neighborhood which includes some nice nature trails, he managed to get one to sit on his hand. I said something like "I love those little blue butterflies but I can never get them to hold still" and he just reaches down and sort of scoops it up while it's flying. I got all mad because I thought he'd moosh it, but he opened -his hand and Tad-dah! there it was with nary a scale on it's wing disturbed!
So, I got out the camera and took a couple close-ups. It never opened it's wings so I couldn't get a photo of the inside (a lilac-y, blueish indigo), but here are the outer wings. He has large hands (to go with the rest of his 6 feet plus a few inches tall-ness), so the butterfly is somewhere around the size of a 'normal' postage stamp. I'm posting a few of the best results here because I want to be sure I'm calling them the right thing. We live in the Marquette, Michigan area (Upper Peninsula, close to Lake Superior, and closer to Canada than much of the rest of the country...). Like I said in my caterpillar post earlier today, it's been an unusually warm and early spring so far and nature seems to be a bit confused as to how to handle it. The wood ticks are taking advantage already... ugh.
Thanks for viewing and any comments.
