Little Western Butterflies

We just returned from a vacation trip from Minnesota to Glacier National Park (in the United States) and its companion, Waterton Lakes National Park in Canada.  This is a reminder of how terribly big North America is, but let's not dwell on that.  In my contining attempt to finally see the small,  I was traipsing around western meadows, stalking the illusive small butterflies.  I pulled my butterfly identification book out when we got home but dispair at identifying the individual varieties.  A number of them I'm fairly sure are in the family of butterflies called blues.

This small insects seem immune to the usual laws of gravity, undoubtedly because they aren't as pudgy as humans.   This one is on some type of wild legume.

This I think is a Mylitta Crescent and seems more aware of which way is up.

This appears to be an Orange-Bordered Blue, a male.  I find that butterflies are more tolerant of camera lenses than human hands, so between a telephoto lens and some patience I was able to get reasonably close.

This is another member of the blue family - it may be the same variety as previously but I'm not sure.  I like the picture - it's of better quality than my identifications.    I was amazed at how many of these small insects were in relatively sparse vegations, compared to the lush grasslands I'm used to in Minnesota.

I couldn't find any butterfly that looked much like this tiny fellow but there were many of the same species.  This is the one I finally captured.

This is a bit beat up member of the blue family I'm fairly sure.    Thanks to digital cameras, I took a slug of these bug pictures and deleted most of them.  These are the ones I was happy with.   It's a bit silly taking a trip into stupendous scenery and spend hours chasing tiny insects.  Be assured I have plenty of scenery pictures but I'm convinced we should attempt to see and appreciate the beauty of the small as well as the magesty of the big.   There was a great deal to see and appreciate at all sizes.