Another ‘find’ in the meadow of our Cashville VA property yesterday morning was this Gray Hairstreak butterfly. A quick online search informed me that the Gray Hairstreak is one of the most common hairstreaks in North America. It ranges over the entire North American continent. I only saw this one, and then only for a few seconds. It may be a common butterfly over our continent but it was a rare find for me. It is pretty small and the intended misdirection created by the colors and pattern on the back edge of the wings totally took me in. From a distance I saw what I thought was the head-end of the butterfly looking to the right but it wasn’t until I got right up to it with my macro lens that I realized I had been bamboozled and its head was actually on the left. It is a beautiful butterfly, very cleverly marked.
