BUTTERFLY WAVES

While hiking a trail to Burroughs Mountain, we paused at a small lake to look for a Goshawk that had been sighted here. We failed to see the Goshawk, but I became intrigued by the life of the lake itself. There was a large population of Long-tailed Salamander larvae in the lake, which we had learned about while doing an amphibian survey in another lake at Mount Rainier during the previous year.

There were also several species of butterflies flapping their wings against the surface tension of the lake, creating little waves that rolled out from their struggles. This fritillary butterfly fluttered while I photographed the phenomenon; then I cupped my hand under it and lifted it to safety. I still don’t understand why so many butterflies die this way.