![\"The](\"..\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Harvester-1024x705.jpg\")
Until last week, I\u2019d never seen a Harvester. When reports of one surfaced on the online sites, they always seemed to occur in rural areas far from Toronto. Then at the end of June, someone reported one on the Leslie Street Spit and attached a photo. What an opportunity, I thought, and biked down the next day. The butterfly had been seen on the trail that runs off the main road in the park and leads to the cormorant colony on Peninsula B. Alders line both sides of the path. I examined every tree along the path but couldn\u2019t find any Harvesters. From there, I went to three other locations in the park that contain stands of alders. I found aphids but no butterflies.<\/p>\n
I went back every week for a month, averaging two times a week, and never saw a single Harvester. I began to think the one found earlier must have been a stray that stayed the night and then moved on, no doubt to somewhere in rural Ontario.<\/p>\n
Last week I had time on my hands and went again. It was one of those hot, muggy afternoons that seem to define the month of July. Partway down the path to Peninsula B, a small butterfly came up from the ground, then flew about madly and lit on a blue flower. I got the binoculars up. The butterfly\u2019s wings were closed, and as it turned flat away from me, I saw it plainly: a Summer Azure.<\/p>\n Two guys went by on bikes talking. They pedaled to the end of the trail, then came back, still talking. When they were gone, I crossed to the other side of the trail and stopped when I saw four small butterflies chasing each other, rising up in a spiral, like a little whirlwind. At first, I thought, Oh, more azures, but there was something different about them. The overall color was darker, and when one lit on an alder leaf with its wings closed, the underside pattern seemed different from an azure\u2019s. The problem was, the butterfly would never rest long enough to give a good look. The other three would return, and they\u2019d all do their crazy dance in the air again. This happened three or four times before one of them settled on a leaf and opened its wings. Even without the glasses, I could see the orange and brown pattern and knew I\u2019d finally found the Harvester. Then all four butterflies settled down and let me look at them as long as I pleased, sometimes with wings open, sometimes closed. I could gaze to my heart\u2019s content and take as many photos as I wanted.<\/p>\n![\"The](\"..\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/ANNG3284-1024x660.jpg\")
![\"Harvester](\"..\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Harvester-underside-1024x604.jpg\")