Sheridan's Hairstreak

When you think about the wildlife of Yellowstone most people think about all of the big animals that can be found there, like bison, moose, elk, wolf and bear, but it's important to keep your eyes open or else you may miss some of the interesting little things that you can find.

For instance on our trip to Yellowstone we had our fist opportunity to photograph the Sheridan's hairstreak butterfly. These small butterflies are comparable in size to many of the common blue butterflies that we see in my pat of the world. In fact when I first saw one flitter by I believed it was a blue but on closer examination the color was more of a green color. The Sheridan's hairstreak is a butterfly of the western portions of North America. It is usually found at elevations from 6000 to 10,000 feet above sea level, and prefers habitats such as hillsides, canyon slopes and sagebrush. I photograph these on a hillside over looking the Lamar River that was filled with sagebrush.