The pearl crescent or the northern crescent butterfly on nodding onion (butterfly: Nymphalidae: "Phyciodes" sp.; plant: Amaryllidaceae, "Allium cernnum").
I picked the early spring flowers in my biodiversity garden and photographed them in studio. "Sanguinaria canadensis", commonly called bloodroot (family Papaveraceae).
A beautiful image; an unfortunate result of human encroachment into the cloud forest. Roads are deathtraps in more ways than one. They heat up faster than their natural surroundings. Reptiles and amphibians are attracted to the heat, then run over by passing vehicles. The butterflies are feeding on the fluids of a dead toad. After this photo was taken they too may have been run over by a vehicle. Squashed butterflies are not an uncommon sight on this gravel road. Cloud Forest, Ecuador (butterflies, family Nymphalidae, genus "Actinote").
