Butterfly Migration

 

Just two days before Halloween and temperatures in the low 80s, the beach beckoned! And I’m glad we went to witness something I’ve not seen before. 

This beautiful butterfly, a Gulf Fritillary, was one of hundreds flying southbound along the beach tree line at Sullivan’s Island. 

This little lovely is also called Passion Butterfly. 

It was difficult to photograph the fluttering fritillaries. I did my best as they streamed by one, two, three, or more at a time. 

The Gulf Fritillary, it seems, cannot stand cold weather, so south they go. In the U.S. in the winter you may see them in the southern parts of Florida and Texas. Many trek to Central America and beyond. Amazing that such a small fragile critter can cover such distances. 

This was the pathway of the butterflies, cruising from right to left. I saw a few closer to the ocean but most were spotted over the seagrass ecosystem. 

The migrating butterflies made this beach visit special. So did the beautiful sunny late October weather.  It’s nice too when the people population is sparse like this.

The Arthur Ravenel Bridge looks elegant in the distance. According to Wikipedia, the bridge has a main span of 1,546 feet, the third longest among cable-stayed bridges in the Western Hemisphere. 

Brown Pelican squadrons can be seen year-round along the Lowcountry coast. 

The guys in this small boat called Irish Rose were returning to the dock after a shrimp outing.

This fisher(man) tested the waters for his catches of the day with the Morris Island Lighthouse and a sailboat in the horizon. I used some Snapseed effects on this image. 

The Seakay Valor is listed as a chemical/oil products tanker that navigates under the United States flag.  

On October 29 it was leaving a Charleston port. Myshiptracking.com shows since then it sailed to Savannah, then Houston, and as of Nov. 10 was back in the Holy City. 

This vessel is the Fort Ripley. It has in large red print the word Response on its side. Fort Ripley was christened in Charleston in 2014 after being built in Massachusetts. According to this article, the Fort Ripley is able to perform offshore firefighting, salvage and emergency response, providing coverage between Morehead City, N.C, and St. Augustine, Fla. a U.S. Coast Guard-certificated 64-ft. aluminum boat owned by harbor salvage support company Southeast Ocean Response Services Inc. 

The Sullivan’s Island Lighthouse as viewed from the beach using my camera’s HDR (high dynamic range) setting.