My first butterfly of the year, the not unexpected Mourning Cloak, soaking up the sun in Green-Wood Cemetery today. The velvety wings dotted with blue/purple spots and edged in gilt are a most welcome sight.
This may be our longest-lived species of butterfly, 10-11 months as an adult. They tuck themselves away somewhere to overwinter — perhaps under some bark, that sounds comfy — and are usually the first butterflies seen flying in the early spring. The sighting reports here have one in the middle of January in Michigan, so maybe March 9th isn’t so impressive as a date here in Brooklyn, but it sure is nice seeing something without a backbone flying after all these months.
Nymphalis antiopa
4 responses to “Nymphalis antiopa”
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I flew to Portland in early February, and I’m pretty spineless, so does that count?
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Nah, we’re all cattle on airplanes.
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Sadly, we don’t get to see the Mourning Cloak here. But we have been watching the Giant Swallowtails with anticipation of ‘orange dogs’ on our citrus.
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[…] the process of bringing the invertebrates back into action. Earlier in the day, I spotted my first butterfly. Later, back in the home office, I noticed this little armored critter on an inside window. I […]
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