Have You Ever Seen a Gulf Fritillary Malachite in Sacramento?

I once gave my mother a framed dead beetle. It was a framed and under glass dead Chinese beetle. I found it at Mall of America in a store filled with butterflies. This was not among her belongings when we cleaned out her apartment after her death. Just goes to show that it's really tough to find a present for a person who has everything and wants nothing. And that I might have been better off choosing a butterfly instead.

Apart from Monarch butterflies, which were abundant in Minnesota while I was growing up, and the yellow Swallowtail butterflies I see in northern California, I know very little about butterflies. I know that the Monarchs fly to Mexico every year for winter, and that global warming is killing them off. And some caterpillars are smoking hookah. But that's about the extent of my butterfly knowledge.

I came across this butterfly a few days ago in Land Park, Sacramento. Dubbed it the inside-out butterfly. That's because its wings on the outside are a different color and pattern than the inside. The outside of this butterfly is like stained glass. The inside is bright orange.

This meant all work came to a screeching halt while I researched the identity of this butterfly. See, this is what happens when you start looking at birds through binoculars and you pay attention to the world of nature around you. It's here every single day but we ignore it. I used to think that all the birds in my yard were brown. They are actually yellow and green and blue and red. Go look for yourself.

As a Sacramento short sale agent, my nose is buried in my computer half of the time. The other half I am going to closings or taking short sale listings.

But today I share with you a Gulf Fritillary Malachite butterfly. You would not think you'd find a Gulf Fritillary in Sacramento, but they are here.

Photo: Elizabeth Weintraub, BlackBerrry BOLD