Lycaena phlaeas. Common name aside, the East Coast population of this small butterfly is thought to have been introduced from Europe during the colonial period, probably on the sheep sorrel its larva feeds on. It is notably associated with these invasive sorrels, and often found on disturbed habitats like roads and lawns, where I’ve photographed them. The Western population is found at and above the timberline and reaches up into Alaska and arctic Canada.
Posts Tagged 'butterflies'
American Copper
Published May 10, 2012 Fieldnotes Leave a CommentTags: butterflies, insects, invertebrates, Nantucket
The Hunt for Red Admiral
Published May 8, 2012 Fieldnotes 6 CommentsTags: butterflies, insects, invertebrates, Nantucket
Red Admiral butterflies (Vanessa atalanta) are out in force this year, enough to be noticed by my radio station, WNYC. This is probably an East Coast phenomenon, as I was on Nantucket this weekend and saw many but photographed few. Being so fast, flighty, and flittery, butterflies are generally hard to photograph. Red Admirals are especially erratic and fast in flight, and when perched they see you coming way before you see them. I managed these shots because this particular one kept returning to the window and the surrounding shingles so I could just stand there and wait.
I suspect therefore that it is one of the males, which the Kaufman Field Guide says are “especially pugnacious” in defending their territory; this one actually chased after a bumblebee! I suppose that he was trying to chase away me, too, so I left him to the sun. According to the Kaufman, this species sometimes migrate north in large numbers.
When these perch with their wings closed, they are much harder to notice, especially on a woodland path:
Vanessa atalanta is an especially beautiful scientific name: Vanessa is from the Greek for butterfly; the Vanessa genus also includes the Painted and American Ladies; Atalanta was the mythological Greek hottie who was swift of foot but had an eye for the golden apples. Wikipedia tells me that V. atalanta is mentioned in Pale Fire, which I just started to re-read this weekend, coincidentally.
Polygonia demystified
Published April 21, 2012 Fieldnotes 2 CommentsTags: butterflies, insects, invertebrates
Eastern Comma butterfly (Polygonia comma). I found this photo in my archives and thought I would compare it to this photo of a Question Mark butterfly (P. interrogationis) I took the other day:
These butterflies’ common names come from the small silver marks on the underside of their hindwings (the lower of the pair), which look like our common punctuation marks. These marks are quite hard to see in the field, but of course taxonomists tend to work with a dead specimen and see things hard if not impossible to see in the field.
There are a number of differences between these two species, but the telling field sign is that the Question Mark has an extra spot on its forewings. Note where both butterflies have a row of three spots through the center of their forewings. The Question Mark has another spot, rather more rectangular than its siblings, between the broad marks that come in from the front edge of the forewings.
Butterflies, Butterfly-Shaped
Published April 20, 2012 Fieldnotes 2 CommentsTags: butterflies, insects, Jamaica Bay, trees
American Lady (Vanessa virginiensis). Very similar to the Painted Lady (V. cardui), which, like the Monarch (Danaus plexippus), is migratory. Saw my first Monarch as well (last year I noted my first at the end of June); the milkweeds, which Monarchs are so associated with, were only three-four inches out of the ground. I’m using the Kaufman Field Guide to Butterflies of North America to differentiate my Ladies and Polygonia. 
Red Maple (Acer rubrum) keys.
Now Blooming, Now Flying
Published April 19, 2012 Fieldnotes 2 CommentsTags: birds, butterflies, flowers, Prospect Park
In Prospect Park this morning:
Wild Geranium, a.k.a. Spotted Cranesbill (Geranium maculatum).
Question Mark butterfly (Polygonia interrogationis), as punctual a name as the very, very similar Eastern Comma (Polygonia comma): 
(picture from my archives)– so named because of small silvery marks on their underside of their hindwings, unseen while wings are spread.
Wild Columbine (Aquilegia canadensis).
Red Admiral (Vanessa atalanta).
On Lookout Hill, I ran into Emily from the Prospect Park Alliance and we had a brief discussion of the importance of untidiness in the wild. Snags, tree stumps, rotting wood, thickets, brambles, bare patches of dirt, etc. Later, in the Vale, which is pretty much the park’s definition of untidy, I watched a bumblebee descend into this bit. She had big bundles of pollen on her legs. She’s clearly nesting in there.
Also saw my first of the year Green Heron, Black-crowned Night Heron, Chimney Swift, and House Wren. A pair of Wrens were joined by a trio of Blue Jays for a chorus of very strident alarm calls, as if something wicked was about (cat, raptor), but I saw nothing, and as the wrens started up long before I got anywhere near them, it wasn’t me, either. I found a Northern Flicker in her cavity nest; they do breed here, but not in great numbers.
American Copper, Lycaena phlaeas. Another name for them is Flame Copper. They are small and vivid.
Common buckeye, Junonia coenia. This one kept leaping ahead of us on the path and required some very careful stalking.
From F. Schuyler Mathews, Field Book of American Wild Flowers: Being a Short Description of Their Character and Habits, A Concise Definition of Their Colors, and Incidental References to Insects Which Assist in Their Fertilization, orginally published 1902; this edition 1912, 23rd printing. Yesterday’s post used another page of this book.
The Monarchs Are Here
Published June 29, 2011 Fieldnotes Leave a CommentTags: butterflies, flowers, insects, invertebrates, plants
A male monarch butterfly, Danaus plexippus, in the Battery Bosque yesterdy. You can see some examples of monarch caterpillars in my post from last August. (And you can tell this is a male, even this blurry, because of the small spots in the hindwing veins.)
The Bosque, named after the trees that tower over it, is intensely blossomy now. Check out their plant database to see what’s in flower: yarrows, masterworts, coneflowers, et cetera.
Tiger Swallowtail
Published June 4, 2011 Fieldnotes Leave a CommentTags: butterflies, insects, invertebrates
One of our biggest butterflies, the eastern tiger swallowtail, Papilio glaucus. Seen all over the East Coast and Midwest; this one was photographed yesterday in Hudson River Park. Note that the upper “swallowtail” is abbreviated, broken or bitten off. This may be a female, because of the extensive blue on the hindwing. Her tongue is deep within the blossom.
Also seen yesterday in the gardens along the Hudson were cabbage whites (the omnipresent little white butterflies that circle each other as they rise up in mating flights), and three species of dragonfly: blue dasher, black saddlebags, and variegated meadowhawk. No damselflies there, but they are certainly out and about around the city now.
Sulphur
Published May 6, 2011 Fieldnotes Leave a CommentTags: Brooklyn, butterflies, insects, invertebrates, Prospect Park
A female orange sulphur butterfly, Colias eurytheme, I think, and not a female clouded sulphur, C. philodice, because, although these species are quite similar, this one looks just like the example in Kaufman’s Field Guide to Butterflies of North America. Complicating matters, these two species can hybridize.
Mourning Cloak
Published March 30, 2011 Fieldnotes Leave a CommentTags: butterflies, Green-Wood, insects, invertebrates
One of the earliest butterflies of spring, the mourning cloak, Nymphalis antiopa. Appropriately enough for its mournful name, this one was photographed today in Green-Wood Cemetery.
