Incredible Insects! #7 Butterfly

Hi everyone! Well, today we are back with another butterfly and although it is a beautiful blue in color, it is next to impossible to photograph this butterfly with it’s wings spread open. Immediately after sitting the wings close up tight so it kind of looks like a dead leaf sitting there. This is the Spring Azure butterfly.

There are actually three different variations of this butterfly and some consider it to be 3 distinct species. The most common is the Ladon Morph which I have yet to photograph. Next is the Summer Azure and then the Spring Azure, Lucia Morph. The photos that I have here are the Lucia Morph, both from different years and different locations.

This Lucia Morph Spring Azure I photographed a couple of years ago.

But even the underside of the wings look quite interesting. The females live only 4 days, mating on day one and laying eggs on day 2. Males will live one to two weeks. They are usually around from early May to the third week of June.

The summer variety from mid July to early September. Caterpillars feed on leaves of dogwood, cherry, blueberry, red-berried elderberry and sumac. Ants will often find these caterpillars and will care for them, making sure they find good food and protecting them from enemies.

And this one I photographed a couple weeks ago.

The ants in turn get nice sweet honeydew from the caterpillars. The butterflies have a wingspan of 1 to 1 1/4 inches (2.5 to 3.2cm). Their beautiful blue color flashes nicely as the butterflies fly around. Well, that’s all for this one, I hope you all have a great day and God bless!

Steve and Muffin.

©2025 Steve McLeod.