I took a photo of this beautiful Mourning Cloak butterfly when we were talking with our neighbor Mrs. Kraft. I just happened to have my camera with me at the time when Elizabeth said, “Hey mom, look! There’s a butterfly.” It was about 20 feet above the ground in the large maple tree that we were sitting under. It’s really incredible that I was able to get a shot like this (including the proboscis) because I seemed so far away, but it lingered on the maple florets giving me the opportunity to snap about 25 pictures.
The Mourning Cloak is a fascinating butterfly. You can learn why it’s called winter’s butterfly at this site from Chicago Wilderness magazine.
http://chicagowildernessmag.org/issues/winter2002/mourning.html.
