Butterflies

We have not seen a lot of butterflies this summer.  The drought and being away on vacation are two good reason why.  So, it was nice to see these two butterflies  out and about today.  A gray hairstreak Strymon melinus and a cloudless sulfur Phoebis sennae.  Besides being photographed on the same day do you know what else these butterflies have in common?  They share a host plant, wild senna Cassia hebecarpa, which grows at Habitat Home.

Giant Swallowtail

We have noted the bottlebrush buckeyes (Aesculus parviflora) previously, but have never posted about this frequent visitor to them, the giant swallowtail (Papilio cresphontes). This largest of Illinois butterflies (4 to 6 inch wingspan) goes through two generations in Illinois and then overwinters as a chrysalis. They feed on a variety of vegetation found at Habitat Home, including these bottlebrush buckeyes, milkweed, clover, and phlox. They are a beautiful sight as they make their "hopping" flight way across the yard. Note: the photo above is one of those that is worth clicking on to open up a higher resolution version to ponder in more detail; for example, it looks like the butterfly's proboscis has passed behind or right through the flower.

Migrating Monarchs

Last year, we removed most of the bush honeysuckle from the edge of the path adjoining the woods at the northwest corner of the bottom field near the orchard. This year, this cleared area is awash with volunteer brown-eyed susans (Rudbeckia triloba) and wingstem (Actinomeris alternifolia, image below). While we routinely observe Monarchs (Danaus plexippus) through the summer, this area has been visited by hundreds of monarch butterflies in the past two weeks; at any visit to the site now there are usually 20 or more present, both on the flowers and in the trees. These images were taken in the early evening, essentially standing still and rotating in place.

Monarchs (the State Insect of Illinois) are present in the state all summer, having up to three broods. But those that have become adults by September are ready to migrate south, either to the gulf coast or all the way to "traditional" breeding grounds in the highlands of central Mexico. These fall migrant Monarchs were born in Illinois or points north into southern Canada, probably three or more generations removed from their ancestors that left the winter roosting grounds last winter/spring. They have never made this trip south before, yet somehow they know when and where to travel. As many as 300 million will congregate in Mexico's Transvolcanic Plateau. How and why they pull off this feat is a mystery. Monarchs are the only butterfly that has such a fixed migration pattern; the migration behaviors of other butterfly species are much more erratic.

It's nice to see all these flowers still blooming and providing these Monarchs with some nectar as a source of energy for the next leg of their long flight ahead!

 

 

Black Swallowtail

Is it my imagination, or that blogging makes me more attentive, or are there actually a lot more butterflies about this year? I'm thinking the latter. The cone flowers in the back have been loaded with multiple tiger swallowtails, monarchs, red admirals, and these guys, black swallowtails (Papilio polyxenes), essentially non-stop, dawn to dusk. It wasn't until I examined the image that this was actually a black swallowtail and not a spicebush swallowtail, as I had originally thought when observing them. But the two are very similar. They both mimic the pipevine swallowtail, whose larvae store aristolochic acid from their host plants and pass it along to the adult stage, making them toxic or at least bad tasting to predators. The mimics don't share this toxicity, but trick predators into avoiding them by their close resemblance to the pipevine swallowtail. Click on the image below to view it at full resolution, a quite different and closeup view of these beautiful insects.

Butterfly Milkweed

The rains have stopped, at least temporarily, and the butterflies and dragonflies are seemingly everywhere. This butterfly milkweed (Asclepias tuberosa) in the back garden is always very popular, as seen above with visitors pipevine swallowtail (Battus philenor) and monarch (Danaus plexippus).

We have seen many pipevine swallowtails this year, which is perplexing as we have no pipevine family plants, to our knowledge. We have white snakeroot, although that is not a reported larval host.  There is plenty of wild ginger here, which some have reported being used, but this is sharply contradicted (as "certainly incorrect") by Bouseman and Sternburg in their book Field Guide to Butterflies of Illinois.Anyway, the adults are here and enjoying the milkweed and other flowering plants, and we enjoy seeing them around.

Azure Butterfly

While out weeding the flower beds on this hot humid day, I noticed a lot of azure butterflies out and about. Are these spring azures or summer azures? It is so hard to tell, and this is probably the crossover time period for the two species to appear. This small butterfly is seen here feeding on white clover, notice the proboscis extending into the flower; its wing is less than three quarters of an inch long.

Skippers

As you can see above, the butterfly bush is still in bloom and attracting butterflies. Today, the bush and the asters were full of painted ladies, sulphurs, and skippers. Butterflies are divided into two superfamilies, the Papilionoidea (true butterflies) and the Hesperioidea (skippers). All the butterflies mentioned previously on this blog have been members of the former, or true butterflies.

There are 62 species of skippers known in Illinois, out of a total of 260 or more in America north of Mexico. Skippers are differentiated from true butterflies by their clubbed antennae, widely separated at their base and many with a little curve at the end, by their stout hairy bodies, and proportionately smaller wings. They tend to beat their wings very fast resulting in fast, darting (or skipping) flight.

The photo above shows a silver-spotted skipper (Epargyreus clarus) on the left and a Peck's skipper (Polites coras) on the right, with a busy bumblebee in between. The Peck's skipper is also shown below.

Buckeye

I have not seen any Buckeye butterflies (Junonia coenia) this year until late last week, soon after the goldenrod started to bloom. And then I have seen buckeyes only on goldenrod. Like this guy, who was hanging out in the tall grass prairie. With conspicuous eyespots on the upper side, and a preference for settling with the wings open, buckeyes are easily identified; they are unique, with no other similar species in Illinois. They are pretty skittish, though, and I had kind of a hard time shooting through and around some tall grass without upsetting it.

Speaking of goldenrod, I've been having a slightly worse allergy season this year, but everyone is now telling me that the goldenrod is not to blame, nor has it ever been. Apparently just the ragweed.

Black-eyed Susans

The black-eyed susans are fading fast. But these two pearl crescents have managed to find a small patch

to enjoy. I have been removing the ripe seed heads and placing them all around the property. The plant will readily self sow. If I had a small garden patch it would be best to remove most flowers before they go to seed, otherwise the garden will be overwhelmed with black-eyed susans. But here, they cannot spread fast enough for me so I aid them in their dispersal and carry off the seedheds to other areas of the property.

Sedum

Sorry, I do not know which sedum this is. A friend passed it along and as happens with pass along plants, the name often gets left behind. But the butterfly is a painted lady and this sedum plant when in bloom usually has two or three painted ladies and several other insects on it. Although not a native plant, it does not become invasive and if I can keep the deer from eating it, the flowers provide nectar for a variety of insects.

Red Admiral

I realize that this week all we have posted about is butterflies! Well, that is because they just seem to be everywhere this week. Has the weather been just right for butterflies? Have the rains produced an abundance of food for the larvae? Are there more nectar plants around this year?

This Red Admiral (Vanessa atalanta) is feeding on the butterfly bush. They also feed on overripe fruit, sap and animal feces. They are fast and agile flyers, making them one of the more difficult butterflies to photograph.

Painted Lady

The painted lady (Vanessa cardui) has a greater world distribution than any other butterfly. It is found almost everywhere, except South America. It goes through multiple generations during the season in Illinois, but like many other Illinoisans, cannot tolerate freezing temperatures, migrating to warmer climes for the winter. Both larvae and adults will feed on a wide variety of plants, seen in these photos on the ever-popular butterfly bush. Note the underside of the hind wing, which blends in with a variety of flowers, or as naturalists seem to like to say, is cryptic.

Summer Azure

At one time the Azures were regarded as just one species but now it has been decided that there are several species of Azures. Some are the Spring Azures, the Summer Azures and the Dusky Azures. But Dusky azures are common only where there is the larval host plant Goat's beard (Aruncus dioicus). We have none here, but we do have the host plants of Summer Azures: dogwoods, wild black cherries, New Jersey tea, viburnums and sumacs. This delicate little summer Azure butterfly(Celastrina neglecta) is fairly common in our area. Here it is feeding on a Bottle Brush Buckeye flower

Pearl Crescent Butterfly

On this hot humid day, this Pearl Crescent(Phyciodes tharos) was basking in the sun. It is a common feature of pearl crescents to bask with their wings spread. And where is it basking? On the driveway of course. It is but one of many varieties of butterflies that likes to gather in moist areas in the driveway forming puddle clubs. Here at Habitat Home we have a long gravel driveway which we never blacktopped and I am so glad we did not.

Orange Sulfurs (Colias eurytheme)

We like to think that we are encouraging butterflies by our use of selected native and non-native plants, both around the house as well as in the meadow and prairie. But, as usual, this morning there were easily 60-80 of these Orange Sulfur butterflies concentrated around three spots in the gravel driveway. These butterflies appreciate clover and alfalfa (hence their other common name, alfalfa butterfly) but males are often found in large groups puddling or congregating around wet or even, as here, no longer damp spots on bare dirt or driveways. They are after minerals and salts, especially sodium which they pass to the females by way of their sperm package, increasing the viability of her eggs. These butterflies are multivoltine with many generations each year. Very common in Illinois, usually the most abundant by number at Habitat Home.

B&B

In this case it is Butterfly and Bird. The Red-Spotted Purple and the Hummingbird were not the only ones to visit this butterfly bush today. On this warm, sunny and humid day, various other butterflies and insects were all over this bush. It is located on a south facing slope so it is very sunny and protected from whatever wind there might be. It has become a great place to watch butterflies and hummingbirds!

Mourning Cloak

We have been seeing more and more butterflies. However, this is one that we do not see a lot of, Mourning Cloak (Nymphalis antiopa). It is one of the longest lived butterflies, living up to eleven months. It will overwinter in hollow logs, tree holes and other such places. It takes nectar from some flowers but it also likes overripe fruit and feces.

Monarda and Monarchs

The wild bergamot (monarda fistulosa) is in full bloom now. We have a lot of it in our upper savanna region. I planted just a few plants several years ago and they have spread nicely. The monarch will visit a wide variety of flowers for the nectar.