Tag: butterflies

Fritillary Friday

On By Mike and Christy15 Comments

Is there a word you run across that no matter how many times you say it it just is a struggle to get past your brain and out your lips?

Well for me that word is Fritillary.

A beautiful species of butterflies, I confess,  but I sure would rather look at them than have to address one directly… Hello Mr. or Mrs. Fritillary….that would not go well.

With that in mind here are some photos of these beautiful butterflies (notice how I did not say Fritillary) that we encountered this past summer.

Happy Fritillary Friday and have a wonderful weekend.

On a single thistle

On By Mike and Christy8 Comments

With all the other wildflowers long gone to seed a single thistle along the side of the road reminded me of one of those photos of the lone remaining watering hole in the Serengeti attracting animals from near and far for a nice cool drink. Only this thistle attracted the remaining nectar and pollen lovers in the area including skippers galore, whites and several alpine butterflies which all gathered to get that one last sip of nectar before summer slips away.

A Summer Tail

On By Mike and Christy16 Comments

Until just a few weeks ago Swallowtails filled the air floating by often gliding up into the canopy and out of sight just as quickly as they appeared making photographs initially hard to come by.

However as days went on and with the butterfly bush calling the swallowtails in we got ample time to sit and observe at least three species of swallowtails in depth.

One one afternoons drive on a dusty old dirt road our path was even block by a congregation of Swallowtails which looked to include several species including the Pale Swallowtail, Western Tiger Swallowtail, Canadian Tiger Swallowtail and the Old-World Swallowtail.

Swallowtails block the way along an old dirt road.

A Western Tiger and Pale Swallowtail getting acquainted.

Stella Orangetip: Anthrocharis stella

On By Mike and Christy7 Comments


We have followed Anthrocharis stella commonly known as Stella Orangetip up and down the trail the last few week with little luck photographing these butterflies that rarely seemed to land. No fooling, one must have flown 25yards in front of us for at least 1/4 mile along the trail last week keeping tis distance but never landing.

When we did see one touch down it was always far in the distance and to make matters worse the wind seemed to be blowing just enough to make focusing with a long telephoto lens somewhat difficult. They definitely seemed to be searching for something specific in their flights and perhaps it was the small white flower in the photo above as they were scattered along the trail and not present in great numbers. Perhaps these flowers will increase in numbers as spring rolls on and then we will get a chance for more close-up shots of this fine looking butterfly.

First Leaves

On By Mike and Christy10 Comments

Along the creek with buds just breaking out a trees first leaves of spring were not leaves at all.

It appeared that sap was flowing and attracting Comma Butterflies (Polygonia comma) of either the Eastern, Satyr or Hoary varieties to these willows just a few weeks ago. In addition to sap the leafless Pussy Willows further up the road were providing an early spring meal of pollen and nectar for the pollinators as well.

The namesake comma, or little c,is visible on both of these guys above.

… and the star of the show and a beautiful lift leaf on any plant.

And after a meal full of nectar a well balanced butterfly diet should include a little mineral as well. This Comma is engaging in a behavior known as puddling which I have observed over and over again but first read about on Piotr Naskrecki’s blog the Smaller Majority in an article entitles What Butterflies Like.

Anyway those first leaves of spring were not leaves at all.