European peacock butterfly

One of the more common beautiful butterflies here in Austria is the European Peacock. The peacock butterfly is resident in much of its range, often wintering in buildings or trees. It therefore often appears quite early in spring. When the first flowers start to bloom the buttlerfly can already be found looking for nectar at the blossom. The butterfly hibernates over winter before laying its eggs in early spring. The stinging nettle is one of the favorite foods for this butterfly and also the Caterpillars from the peacock butterfly eat from the stinging nettle.

When I took pictures of this butterfly it was a very warm day and it kept flying from one place to the other. This way I coldn't use any Macro Lens since it fled so quickly. Instead I used the 150-600 mm lens for some pictures of this butterfly and it worked out quite well. Of course a Macro shot would have been great but was not possible.

Europeoan peacock butterfly at the edge of a meadow. Picture: Florian Glechner.

I found this butterfly on the transition of a meadow to the forest, and it was enjoying the sunrays there sitting on the soil. Because it was already a warm day it was very agile and fled from me whenever I got to close. If I hadn't used my long wildlife lens I probably couldn't take a picture at all since the Macro lens was way too short to get a closeup pictures of this shy butterfly.

European Peacock butterfly enjoying the sunrays in the soil. Picture: Florian Glechner.

In the higher grass. Picture: Florian Glechner.

The warm soil is one of the favorite spots for the butterfly. Picture: Florian Glechner.