This lovely creature was found on Thanksgiving Day while I was out on a walk listening to 97.1FM on my iPod; it must've hatched from its chrysallis no more than a half-hour before I arrived, too, because its wings were still wet and it was walking along the ground in this driveway (seen in the picture).

What is visible here is actually the <i>underside</i> of the wing, not the top - it was born with defective wings, folding over to the left side. This means he can't fly (I decided it's a boy butterfly), which really broke my heart. I mean, how often do people see an imperfect butterfly in the wild? They're usually eaten or killed by predators right away.

I named him "Sharpe" (with an accent on the "e") because the silveer markings on his wings - both sides - look like someone took a sharpie marker and colored him in. I've never seen one like him in my neighborhood; the usual butterflies here are either white with black wing tips, or monarchs. This little guy, however, has dark, heavily speckled wings on the top side, and black-tipped speckled wings with gradient shades of cardinal red, orange, and yellow on the underside.

Even his antennae are interesting! They're black with little white strips going all the way from the head to the tips, and his body is white and orange in stripes. His eyes are light brown/orange, and his legs are dark red with black joints. If anyone knows what kind of butterfly he is, I'd love to know.

This picture was taken by a neighbor's phone, by the way.