Cinderella and the White Cabbage Butterfly

If Cinderella were a butterfly, she'd probably be a white cabbage butterfly, Pieris rapae.

The butterfly--in its larval stage it's a pest of cucurbits--is stunning as an adult.  Just think of a flowing white gown, exquisite pirouettes, and a flutter like no other.

If you've ever tried to photograph a white cabbage butterfly, it's not all that easy. They are fast and fleeting. One minute they're on the lavender and the next minute they're not. One minute they're on the catmint and then...

Where did they go?

With a fast shutter speed, though, you can sometimes catch them in flight. 

When Cinderella left the ballroom at the stroke of midnight (she should listened to her Fairy Godmother and kept better track of her time!) her carriage turned back into a pumpkin, the footmen into lizards, the coachman into a rat, and her dress turned back into rags.

Just as her Fairy Godmother warned.

But the finely, timely P. rapae just flutters away--white flowing gown intact...unless snagged by a predator.