Great Purple Hairstreak

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While photographing the large number of queen butterflies on these flowers, a fleeting flash of iridescent blue and orange came into view. A small Great Purple Hairstreak butterfly was also on the flowers. This butterfly had fighter jet speed compared to the big queen butterflies. I failed to get a photo of the beautiful topside (mostly iridescent blue) of its wings as about the only time we saw that color was in flight and that was too fast for my skills. The hairstreak butterflies are characterized by the protruding hair on the back of their wings. The bee in this photo gives you a size comparison of the butterfly.

Thanks,
Doug White

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