The Friendly Butterfly: Lorquin's Admiral, Bouquet Canyon, Casio EX-F1 Slow Motion + HD 720p

One day while hiking in Bouquet Canyon, CA, I ran across an exceptionally friendly male Lorquin's Admiral... He was avidly guarding and patrolling his territory in this little alcove of Willow trees, but didn't seem to mind me watching and filming him. On a whim I decided to try picking him up, which he allowed - especially after tasting the light layer of sweat on my finger. Butterflies are known for visiting unusual places to drink water and take in natural salts and minerals, which might be otherwise lacking in their diet. In this case, the salts came right to him and he seemed happy to enjoy the attention while he lapped it up!

The Lorquin's Admiral Butterfly (Limenitis lorquini) was named after Pierre Lorquin, a French naturalist who came to California during the gold rush of the mid 1800's. It's a fairly common butterfly in canyon bottoms, wherever it's Willow caterpillar host plant grows abundantly. The larvae are not so easy to find and I found that it was easier to get a female to lay eggs than it was to locate caterpillars in the wilderness! Here, you can see the entire rearing project, from eggs to adult butterfly:


Cameras used: Casio EX-F1 for slow motion, and Canon HF100 for 1080p HD


Thanks so much for watching and reading! :-)

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[jcmegabyte]

That's great to hear - If she's actively taking pics, I do hope she'll post her work online for us to see! :-)

[fritzwilhelm]

Focusing on a Lorquin's in flight is no mean feat. They can be very fast, perhaps more so than the Red Admiral. This is a sight of this butterfly we rarely see. Thanks for posting.

[jcmegabyte]

Thanks so much for watching and the kind words - Cheers! =)

[jcmegabyte]

So glad you enjoyed - thanks for the visit and kind words! :-)

[jcmegabyte]

Thanks so much for the visit and kind words! Glad you like it :-)

[jcmegabyte]

I have a great big Buddlea in my backyard as well - great bush for bringing in the butterflies and hummingbirds! Thanks so much for visiting :-)

[jukingeo]

Beautiful footage of a a beautiful butterfly. I love how you captured it soaring, it makes it look bigger than it really is.

[jcmegabyte]

The light, flexibie appearance of the wings surprised me too, since butterfly wings actually seem somwhat stiff when you actually get to touch them. Thanks so much for visiting! :-)

[jcmegabyte]

So glad you liked this one :-) Thanks for the view and kind words!

[jcmegabyte]

So glad you enjoyed the show! Thanks for visiting =)

[Orkide]

WAUWWWW I AM WALKING NEXT TO YOU SEEING THIS MIRACLE, THANK YOU FOR UPLOADING, AT LEAST A MILLION STARS TO YOU

[jcmegabyte]

That's great to hear - thanks so much for visiting and the kind wishes! :-)

[ZooVisitorMM]

How wonderful to have such a beautiful butterfly sit on your finger!

[jcmegabyte]

So glad you enjoyed! Thanks for visiting =)

[notpopebuthope]

WOW! I'm deeply impressed - I've never seen before a butterfly in a way like this! AWESOME! Great job done! THANKS!

[flowerbudz]

we love your art, keep up the nice work.Always happy to see a new video! Million thanks. We send you our energy to help you film something you really want! cheers

[FireHell]

Your vids just keep getting better and better!!!
The Red Admiral is also a friendly critter.It's cool when they land on you and spread their wings.
Awesome!!!

[jcmegabyte]

Thanks for the great comment! I'm glad you enjoyed the info as well as the video :-) Cheers!

[jcmegabyte]

Thanks a bunch for the view and kind words! =D

[angelialvares]

Amazing how it rides the wind. It does much more gliding than actual flapping of wings. Lovely video!