Friday, December 13, 2013

The admiral defends his territory, continued

The red admiral butterfly seemed very bold when defending his territory against intruders (including me).  Yet at other moments, the red admiral was considerably more subdued and would sit motionless at various locations around his territory.

The red admiral (Vanessa atalanta) sitting on a branch by the boardwalk that he defended.
The day was cool enough that after sitting still, the red admiral would need to warm its wings again before taking flight.  To warm up, the butterfly would "shiver" its wings (as can be seen in the video below).  The red admiral certainly was not trembling in fear!

* To see this video in high definition (1080p), you may need to: 
(1) click "YouTube" to watch on the YouTube website
(2) change the settings at the bottom of the video screen

Another thing that can be seen in the video is how conspicuous the red admiral is with its wings spread open.  Nevertheless, whenever the red admiral fluttered down onto the boardwalk and closed its wings, it would nearly disappear against the wood grain.

Can you find the red admiral?

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