Monarch on Coneflower
This Monarch butterfly (Danaus plexippus) certainly chose the correct color of coneflower to nectar on as photographed yesterday. It is now egg and caterpillar season! Have you found any on your milkweed?
Read MoreTattered Lady
The American Painted Lady (Vanessa virginiensis) is best identified when nectaring like this by the two large eyespots on the ventral hindwing. The very similar Painted Lady (Vanessa cardui) would have four smaller eyespots in the same place. This individual is tattered and torn, experiencing some wear and tear after being busy on the wing for probably only a couple weeks, or a few at most. Adult life spans are short for many of our butterflies, and they have a lot to get done in such a small window, which makes it all the more important to have plentiful, widespread and organic food...
Read MoreSpicebush Swallowtail on Eastern Purple Coneflower
This breathtaking sight was a recent morning surprise for me as once again the wonderful Eastern Purple Coneflower (Echinacea purpurea) brought in a special friend in the form of a Spicebush Swallowtail (Papilio troilus) butterfly. It can be somewhat difficult to identify the Spicebush Swallowtail as the Black Swallowtail (Papilio polyxenes) looks very similar. To me, in terms of general and unscientific impressions, the Spicebush Swallowtail is a duller black, flies a little stronger, and seems a little larger with broad wings. One scientific way to tell the species apart if you have a view...
Read MoreSpicebush Swallowtail (Papilio troilus)
I took these Spicebush Swallowtail (Papilio troilus) photos last Friday evening after the opening of Stratford Point’s new water garden while the butterfly was being battered by gusty winds off the water. It was appropriately trying to feed in the garden itself but the seabreeze pushed it around to the other side of the building and some of the other gardens a little more out of the wind. Catching a drink while you’re being tossed about by those big sails is not easy, and it ended up fluttering to keep itself steady in the wind at times. The species is a daily sighting now among...
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