Callophrys yahwehus which uses yapon holly (ilex vomitoria) as a host plant.
A butterfly sitting on a rock with its wings closed
ESG-22-148
one. really the only butterfly through that whole manzanita section to the campground. the manzanitas did not look good tbh.
This rare butterfly is only found in pine rockland in a few remaining spots. I've tried over a dozen times to find this species, so it was very sweet to finally connect with one. Beautiful!
Happy to have one of my favorite butterflies as my last observation for the year. :]