Haiyong Cai (China) notices the shimmery blue colours of eros blue butterflies basking among the vegetation.
While wandering through an alpine meadow, Haiyong spotted a patch of blue among the grass.
Initially thinking they were flowers, he approached carefully and realised they were butterflies. To preserve the moment, he took a rapid burst of photos.
Male eros blue butterflies gather in large numbers to lie in the sun.
Their shimmery blue colour is not produced by pigments but by the structure of their scales, which reflect light. Stacked layers of tiny ridges and pores interfere with the properties of any light falling on them and reflect it back at wavelengths that generate the blue colour.
The females, by contrast, are darker and rarer to find.
China
Haiyong is a wildlife photography enthusiast for Tianjun County, Qinghai Province, China. He’s travelled to every place in Tianjun County in search of wild animals and often camps in the wild. Photography makes his life full of fun and he hopes more people can learn about the land and the people and creatures living on it.
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