Nymphalis antiopa

Drove down canyon (outside the park) today to see if migrants have reached the lower elevations yet. No such luck, but the Merced River Recreation Area was bursting with butterflies! Blues, whites, sulphurs, checkerspots, duskywings, swallowtails, and more!

Pictured here is a Mourning Cloak. This is a really interesting butterfly. It belongs to the large Brushfoot family (which includes the Monarch, the Admirals, and many, many more) and it is one of the larger American butterflies.

The Mourning Cloak is also one of the longest lived, at around 10 months (many adult butterflies live only 10 days!). They hatch in the summer, hibernate through the winter, and mate in the spring. When they are fresh they have a brilliant yellow border on their wings, but the older ones fade out to white, like this one. I think it was on its last legs--quite literally, as it only had 2 left--and it let me pick it up for a moment, which they only do when they're really tuckered out.

A very lovely creature, this....