Butterflies are shadows.

Simple to prove. Here’s a leaf shading rock.

And a whole flock of shadow butterflies.

They’re not the only shadows. The Síya? twigs below are shadows of the past.

And this bunchgrass is a shadow of winter snow.

The stones in the little community below, however, are not a shadow.

The plants are. Same here, although a kind of patchy, ripply shadow, like clouds.

Here, this is more clear:

The Síya? is the shadow of the stone, but is not in its shadow. And, of course, the ponderosa pine cones below are a shadow of the tree, simple enough, but because the yellow sknirmən below catch all the light and cast it across the grass and needles, they place the cones in their shadow.

That is their great trick. It’s how they end the winter, where shadows, such as the ones below on Puddin’head, are shadows of shadows and push back the light.