It's got to be a gray hairstreak, Bob. White-M hairstreaks have a white dot on the edge of the hindwing, which appears right in the middle of their wings when they're up, like yours is - I don't see a white spot. Plus, yours has two orange spots instead of one red or orange one, like W-M hairstreaks. Gray hairstreaks are highly variable, sometimes having a "M" on their undersides. I made a picture of a gray hairstreak this past fall - you can see the orange dashes on this one, which is also a sometimes characteristic of the butterfly - And here's an older picture of one with something of a "M" on its underside - Beautiful picture, as usual! Sherry

Yet another good example of how common names don't always point to the right species. In general on this forum "Ladies" refer to the Vanessa complex, which are not in the same Limenitidinae subfamily let along genus as Limenitis lorquini (and they can not hybridize). The common name most often used to refer to L. lorquini (and most of the Limenitidinae) is "Admirals". My guess is by "Lady" you were referring to L. archippus which can hybridize naturally with many sp/ssp of other Limenitis sp/ssp they over-lap ranges with. I worked closely with Dr. Austin Platt at UMBC for a few years while he was doing his hyridization research on NA Limenitidinae, and supplied him with live stock and adults of many of the western sp/ssp. I have many of those lab created hybrids in my synoptic collection, as well as the paper Austin eventually published from the findings. As for the variation from your noninate E. chalcedona... abberants are not all that uncommon in nature. If enough hours are spent in the field by an observant lepidopterists, they will see many of them over the years. Same with gynandromorphs, or even population clines. Several factors can cause them naturally, and most can be duplicated in the lab. Without the bug in hand to inspect for other possible keys, I still will suggest yours in the picture is an abberant. FWIW, there are 8 or 9 recognized subspecies of this bug, so it is a very variable species. That is further proved by your additional pictures of the species from your area and the variations that are easy to see between them. Again, fantastic pictures. Larry

That's what I thought, but the angle of your pictures causes one to wonder. Great closeups. Before our thunder storm today with straight line winds of up to 75 mph, they were flying. Not afterwards. : (

Taxodium, but I'm not sure of the species - probably distichum. Noki. I think you're more correct on that height than I stated. I might be confusing myself with the hedges at the Minnesota Landscape Arboretum. Here's a picture taken in 2005 from the tower you mention.