Backyard and Beyond

Limenitis archippus.
Danaus plexippus.

Viceroy pictured first. The black band across the hindwings is the most obvious field-mark difference. In the Southwest, however, this band can be faint or even missing. The Viceroy is also smaller than the Monarch, which is one of our largest butterfly species. This Viceroy was seen, along with a couple of others, and some Monarchs, at the Shawangunk Grasslands NWR in Ulster County, NY. I’ve never seen one in Brooklyn. There are four Brooklyn (Kings Co.) records in iNaturalist, three from 2017, one from 2018. Butterflies and Moths of NA has one record, from 2017. Why so few? Willow, aspen, and poplar are their larval foodplants. But they like “wet meadows, edges of watercourses, and other open wet habitats” (David L. Wagner, Caterpillars of Eastern North America), not common here.

Red-spotted Purple (Limenitis arthemis) included here because, come on, this picture!, but also because they are in the same genus as Viceroys.

Viceroys famously mimic Monarchs. It was originally thought they just looked like Monarchs, which are distasteful to many predators because of the milkweed sap (latex) they eat, but there is now some thought that Viceroys also taste horrible as well. In Florida, the Viceroys are redder, mimicking Queen (Danaus gilippus) butterflies.

Common Sootywing. A small black skipper, the only example seen on this day in Green-Wood, where all these butterflies but one were seen.
Rather better pictures than our last encounter, when there was also only one to be seen. The way the fall of light accents the scaly edges of this particularly brightly-spotted individual is fine indeed. The number of spots can be variable. Indeed, the more you look the more individuality you see amongst the Lepidoptera.
For instance, are these Colias genus butterflies the same species?
Zebulon Skipper. A distinctively-marked species amongst the confusing skippers. This one was seen in Alley Pond Park in Queens.
Eastern Comma.
Question Mark.

These punctuation butterflies will return next week in more detail. Amid a virtual storm of other species hosing up buddleja nectar, a few of both of these Polygonia were drinking sap nearby, clustering at the shady base of a lilac.

My observations in Green-Wood this year so far: twenty named butterfly species, plus four skipper sightings that I can’t parse. I expect a few more skippers before the summer is out, and who knows what else.
The small jewel of the Pearly Crescent.