A female Cairns Birdwing on an Ixora flower. Wild, Kuranda, Australia. Photo: David Clode.
Butterfly photos – free to download, print, photocopy, use as screensavers etc., for personal or educational use, but not for commercial use without my permission.
Many of these photos were taken at the Watkins Munro Martin Conservatory at the Cairns Botanic Gardens, North Queensland, Australia. Opened in September 2015, the conservatory is very well designed and has an outstanding collection of tropical orchids, tassel ferns, broms, carnivorous plants, aroids, palms, etc…. with butterflies as a bonus.
Congratulations to all involved in this stunning achievement! (and its ongoing maintenance).
Mating Pale Green Triangle butterflies Graphium euryplus. Wild, Limberlost nursery, Cairns. Photo: David Clode.
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A Hercules Moth caterpillar. Photo: David Clode.
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The Conservatory at Cairns Botanic Gardens. September 2015.
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Photo taken at Lake Barrine, Australia, by David Clode.
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A butterfly lays an egg at the Kuranda butterfly sanctuary. Photo: David Clode.
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Male Cruiser Butterfly Vindula arsinoe. Conservatory.
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Male Cruiser. Photo: David Clode.
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Male Cruiser butterfly visits a water lily flower for nectar. Photo: David Clode.
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Male Cruiser butterfly. David Clode.
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Male Cruiser butterfly. Photo: David Clode.
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Female Cruiser. Conservatory. Photo: David Clode.
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Cruiser, wild, Crystal Cascades. Photo: David Clode.
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Blue Triangle Butterfly flying. Graphium sarpedon. Cairns Central Swamp. Photo: David Clode.
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Blue Triangle, probably getting salts from the water. Photo: David Clode.
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Orange Bushbrown Mycalesis terminus. I like the bokeh (blurry background) in this photo. Photo: David Clode.
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Orange Bushbrown Mycalesis terminus. Crystal Cascades. Photo: David Clode.
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Monarch butterfly (or Wanderer butterfly in Australia). Photo: Cairns Botanic Gardens Conservatory, David Clode.
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Monarch butterfly. Photo: David Clode.
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Monarch butterfly. David Clode.
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Monarch. David Clode.
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Wanderer or Monarch Butterfly Danaus plexippus. Conservatory. Photo: David Clode.
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Black and White Swift Sabera caesina. Cairns Botanic Gardens, wild, outdoors. Photo: David Clode.
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A rather hirsute Skipper. Possibly a Black Skipper Toxidia melania. In the wild, Mount Whitfield, Cairns. Photo: David Clode
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Banded Demon Notocrypta waigensis. Wild, Cairns.
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Imagine having a tongue that long! Wild, Cairns Bot anic gardens.Photo: David Clode.
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Orange Lacewing Butterfly Cethosia penthesilea on Phalaenopsis orchid. Conservatory. Photo: David Clode.
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Orange Lacewing butterfly. Photo: David Clode..
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Orange Lacewing on Cattleya orchid. Coservatory. Photo: David Clode.
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Orange Lacewing. Conservatory. Photo: David Clode.
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An orange lacewing visits a Brassia orchid flower (Brassia datacosa = B. verrucosa x B. cauda). Photo: David Clode.
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Orange Lacewing, Ixora flower. Photo: David Clode.
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Orange Lacewing. Photo: David Clode.
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Orange Lacewing. Photo: David Clode.
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Ulysses Butterfly Papilio Ulysses on Ixora flowers. Conservatory. Photo: David Clode.
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Ulysses.
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Ulysses in flight.
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Ulysses, tropical ginger. Photo: David Clode.
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Ulysses, tropical ginger flower, Botanic Gardens Conservatory. Photo: David Clode.
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Ulysses profile close up. Photo: David Clode.
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Northern Jezabel Delias argenthona, deep inside a Syzigium malaccense flower. Cairns cemetery. Photo: David Clode.
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Green-spotted Triangle Graphium Agamemnon. Cairns Botanic gardens, wild, outdoors. Photo: David Clode.
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Green-spotted Triangle. Photo: David Clode.
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Blue-banded Eggfly Hypolimnas alimena. Conservatory. Photo: David Clode.
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Female Common Eggfly Hypolimnas bolina. Cairns Botanic gardens conservatory. Photo: David Clode.
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Male Common Eggfly Hypolimnas bolina. Photo: David Clode.
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Orchard Swallowtail Papilio aegeus. Conservatory. Photo: David Clode.
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Orchard Swallowtail. Photo: David Clode.
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Swallowtail. Male/female interaction. David Clode.
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Swallowtail female and male (female on leaf). David Clode.
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Swallowtail on Pentas flower. David Clode.
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Swallowtail. Photo: David Clode.
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Swallowtail on a ginger flower. David Clode.
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Swallowtail butterfly on a ginger flower. David Clode.
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Male Cairns Birdwing Butterfly Ornithoptera priamus. Conservatory. Photo: David Clode.
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Cairns Birdwing and peace lily. Photo: David Clode.
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Mating Cairns Birdwing butterflies. Photo: David Clode.
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Cairns Birdwing. Photo: David Clode.
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Cairns Birdwing – in this photo the coiled proboscis can be clearly seen. Photo: david Clode,
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Male Birdwing attends female. Photo: David Clode. Cairns Botanic Gardens conservatory.
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Female Birdwing. Photo: David Clode.
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Male Birdwing in flight. Photo: David Clode.
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Male Birdwing in flight. Photo: David Clode.
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A female Cairns Birdwing on an Ixora flower. Wild, Kuranda, Australia. Photo: David Clode.
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As above, drinking deeply from the flower. Pohto: David Clode.
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As above, male hanging around the female. Photo: David Clode.
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As above, male. Photo: David Clode.
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Australian Gull Cepora perimale feeding on Murraya paniculata flowers. Manunda Cairns. Photo: David Clode.
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Common Tit Hypolycaena phorbas. Note the false “eyes”, as well as the tail appendages which the butterfly moves as a decoy to fool predators – unlike this photo, they are often not intact (the butterfly moves its wings, giving the appearance of moving antennae). Wild, Enmore Street, Cairns. Photo: David Clode.
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Black and White Tit butterfly visiting a Chinese ground orchid. Wild, Cairns Botanic Gardens. Photo: David Clode.
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Black and White Tiger Danaus affinis. Cemetery Swamp. Photo: David Clode.
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Common Crow Butterfly Euploea core. Wild, Cairns cemetery. Photo: David Clode.
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Blue Tiger Butterfly Tirumala hamata. Wild, Cape Tribulation Beach. Photo: David Clode.
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Australian Rustic butterfly Cupha prosope and two native bees visiting Premna serratifolia for nectar. Wild, Cattana wetlands. Photo: David Clode.
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Australian Rustic butterfly. Photo: David Clode.
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Australian Rustic Butterfly World, Kuranda, Australia. Photo: David Clode,
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Close up of a mating Pale green Triangle butterfly. Photo: David Clode
Hopefully more to come.
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