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Excerpts from Jim Conrad's
Naturalist Newsletter
from the May 20, 2012 Newsletter issued from the woods of the Loess Hill Region a few miles east of Natchez, Mississippi, USA
SUMMER AZURE
Above you can see one of the butterflies most commonly spotted here these days. Volunteer identifier Bea in Ontario says it's the Summer Azure, CELASTRINA NEGLECTA, found in most of the eastern and central US and southern Canada.
It's a small butterfly with a wingspan of about an inch (2.5cm). When the male flits about you see flashes of powdery blue on his wings' upper sides, but as soon as these butterflies land they close their wings above them, as in the picture. They're similar to hairstreaks but lack the little "hairs" projecting backwards from their hindwings.