Sturdy As They Go

I love these beautiful creatures!  Don't you?  They seem so fragile, but watching them yesterday, hovering over the creeping flox and flitting through the limbs of shrubs in what must have been 35 mph winds, they seemed to hold their own easily, leaving me to consider the word "sturdy" as opposed to "delicate."  After all, I remind myself, they over-wintered here.  Not to mention the fact that this butterfly is present throughout the entire Palearctic region, ranging from Russia to China and Japan, (including the Himalayas and Taiwan), and across into Alaska, Canada, and the United States. 

They may appear as if they would be unable to withstand even minor amounts of battering.  In fact, if you look closely at my image taken yesterday you will notice a couple of tiny rips on the outer edge of the butterfly's left wing.  Even so, it didn't in the least deter the creature's relentless search for nectar on a sunny, windy spring day. They do not migrate as do the Monarch Butterflies, but stay year 'round and produce up to three generations over spring and summer. So it will be visible throughout the coming months winging its splendored way through the tree tops from now until late fall.