Flames Dancing in the Air – Gulf Fritillaries
On a warm late-summer morning, sunlight poured onto a small, weedy patch of foxtails – tall, tan grasses with soft-looking brushy tops that stood among other wild grasses and plants in a rough clearing in patch of woods. In the air above and all around the sunlit foxtails, danced dozens of bright, burning-orange butterflies all fluttering rapidly, in constant motion. A flowing, shimmering cloud of golden orange, with sparks of black and silver.
The butterflies were Gulf Fritillaries, medium-size and brilliant orange with delicate patterns of black markings and three tiny white dots outlined in black on the upper side of their wings; and on the underside, elongated, iridescent spots of silver-white.
Gulf Fritillaries are a common species in this part of the South, often found along woods’ edges like this, or along roadsides, in parks or in yards with flowers. They used to be very common here at this time of late summer. But this year, I’ve seen very few of them – or of any butterflies at all – so this sudden gathering was so unusual it felt enchanted, and I stayed to watch them for several minutes. Every now and then, one would settle briefly on a foxtail or blade of grass, but it never stayed long before it flew again. Mostly they stayed in swirling, flickering motion over this magical little spot.