Today was a spectacular day for spotting butterflies—six varieties. In fact as I walked down the driveway to the motorcycle, a large Canadian Tiger Swallowtail came zipping along from across the street. She flew right over the bike, right over me, headed up to the roof of my parents’ house, and circled back around. She hung out for so long that I managed to get a picture of her! I stood in the driveway dropping gloves and keys and laughing as I watched her flying about.
Not thirty seconds later into my ride, I saw two Fritillary butterflies dancing about. I wondered if butterflies are inherently lazy insects. Bill wasn’t feeling well and decided not to ride, and we had delayed heading over. My ride didn’t start until 1:00 in the afternoon, and spotting the variety of butterflies that I did, I had to conclude that they enjoy sleeping in. Because I was riding solo, I took the swallowtail’s pre-ride flight as sort of a blessing. Without Bill, I had to watch for everything—curve lines, oncoming traffic, cars pulling out. I worked on the observational skills which was really good for me.
As I rode into the ritzy neighborhood, I saw an unusual butterfly. It may have been a Great Spangled Fritillary, but I can’t be sure. I’m guessing at that because of its size; it was much larger than the other fritillary butterflies. One of the problems with watching butterflies from the back of a motorcycle is not being able to track the insect for a proper identification. Anyway, it was a butterfly and not another cabbage white, so it was fun to see.
It was hot, near 90 degrees, so I spent most of the ride cruising with just turns in courts. Because last week’s middle of the street U-turn didn’t go well, I did try that. The first one was a disaster—into the grass, but the second one was a success. I again encountered a small box turtle working his way across the court. He stopped when I did and stared me down, so I rode off and left him to it. Soon after I spotted what I think was a Great Purple Hairstreak butterfly but may have been a small Black Swallowtail whose yellow markings have not come in. And I finally did spot a Sulphur recognizing the bright yellow as I rode closer to it. Before my ride ended, one little Cabbage White made an appearance as did a smaller Tiger Swallowtail.
I missed having Bill on the ride, but I liked the challenge of being responsible for all the decisions. I briefly thought about a quick little sojourn into traffic, but I decided instead to stick to the roads I know and save traffic for when I’m riding with Bill; his motorcycle is too big to miss!
Flutterby Biker 