Which End Up?

I’m not much of a butterflier: they’re too small, too fast, too cryptic. But this morning I found our front-yard buddleia (of a non-invasive species native as close as southwest Texas) full of skippers and hairstreaks.

This is the aptly named gray hairstreak, and all of the dozen or so individuals on this single bush assumed this odd posture immediately on landing: rapidly vibrating tails in the air, head down and away from the camera’s intimidating eye. After a few seconds, they would creep down the flower stalk into a more “normal” horizontal position and begin to nectar. The deception of the hindwing, with its antenna-like tails and complexly folded false head, was perfect, and more than once I thought for a moment that the animals were walking backward!