Flitting By

Viceroy (Limenitis archippus)

When choosing plants for the garden, I try to keep in mind the needs of garden visitors. Not people who may drop by, but a host of birds, butterflies, bees and other pollinators who enliven the garden every day. And when I’m outside, working in the garden or just strolling, I like to keep my camera close at hand for opportune photo moments. Some of the butterflies that I was lucky enough to ‘capture’ with my camera this season are featured here today.

Opening the post is a Viceroy butterfly, a look-alike of the well-known but disappearing Monarch. Viceroys are a bit smaller, and have a distinctive black line across their hind wings. It was thought that Viceroys benefitted from their mimicry of Monarchs as predators avoid the bad-tasting Monarch, but research suggests that the Viceroy has its own disagreeable taste that wards off birds.

In addition to nectar sources, butterflies also need host plants to serve as nurseries for their caterpillars. Pollinators of all types, including butterflies are under severe pressure from the overuse of pesticides and habitat destruction. Any contribution you can make with your garden is a help.

Some butterflies have very specific requirements for host plants, while others are generalists. Monarchs are well-know to use milkweed. Viceroy caterpillars use willows. There are many willow species, and some, such as corkscrew willow or blue arctic willow, can be pleasing additions to a garden.

White Admiral (Limenitis arthemis)

The White Admiral is closely related to the Viceroy, and also uses willows, cottonwoods, poplars and related trees as its larval food source.

Canadian Tiger Swallowtail (Papilio canadensis)

Here’s a Canadian Tiger Swallowtail visiting catmint. The Canadian is very similar to the Eastern Tiger Swallowtail, but ranges farther north. It is a bit smaller than its southern cousin. Its larval foodplants include birch, aspen, black cherry and other trees.

Pearl Crescent (Phyciodes tharos)

Here’s a Pearl Crescent on the last of the spring forget-me-nots. Pearl Crescents are small butterflies, but their brilliant orange and black pattern is eye-catching. Their larval foodplants are asters.

Northern Pearly-eye (Enodia anthedon)

Northern Pearly-eyes are rapid flyers. They’re usually found in woods or in meadows near a water souce. Unlike many other butterflies, they don’t visit flowers, but land on tree trunks or trails or low vegetation. Adults feed on dung, fungi, carrion, and sap from willows, poplars, and birch. Grasses are their larval foodplant.

Great Spangled Fritillary (Speyeria cybele)

Finally, here’s a Great Spangled Fritillary. The adults nectar on many varieties of flowers, but the larval foodplant is specifically violets. A good source of information about butterflies is the Butterflies and Moths of North America website. The page highlighting the Great Spangled Fritillary is linked here.

A very nice book that features beautiful pictures of the life cycle of 23 common butterfly species, from egg to adult, is The Life Cycles of Butterflies by Judy Burris and Wayne Richards. It offers a terrific introduction to these amazing creatures, and is quite highly recommended.

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Flutter by Butterfly

In spite of my love for daylilies, if I were only to have one type of flower in the garden, I might have to go with the echinaceas, or coneflowers. While the daylilies are beautiful, they can’t beat echinacea when it comes to attracting a host of pollinators, most notably butterflies. Few garden visitors are more welcome.

While to our human eyes the flight of butterflies seems carefree and footloose, butterflies live a perilous life as they seek out food and appropriate host plants on which to lay the eggs that will produce a future generation of butterflies. Echinacea provides a much favored nectar source. Ideally, a garden for butterflies should also contain the host plants that are required by the caterpillars of the species. Host plants used by the Black Swallowtail (Papilio polyxenes), illustrated in the first two photos, include dill, fennel and parsley. I intersperse a bit of each in my perennial garden each year.

By contrast, the host plants used by White Admirals (Limenitis arthemis), below, include a variety of trees including birch, black cherry and chokecherry.

The Eastern Comma (Polygonia comma) uses shade trees such as American elm and plants in the nettle family to feed its caterpillars. In addition to sipping nectar at flowers, the Eastern Comma is also attracted to overripe fruit and sap. Unlike many butterflies, it is the outer view of the wings that most readily allows the identification of this butterfly, which is named for the small white mark on the underside of its hind wing.

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Butterflies, too.

Butterflies find the hydrangea bush very attractive too. I spotted four species visiting the hydrangea flowers. One was the little crescent butterfly pictured above, who is shown perched on a brick surface near the bush. It is likely a Northern Crescent (Phyciodes cocyta), but could be a Pearl Crescent (P. tharos). The two species are difficult to differentiate. The Northern may be a bit larger and have fewer black markings, leaving orange areas more open. Both are small butterflies, with rounded forewings. Their preferred larval foodplants are asters.

A number of Question Mark (Polygonia interrogationis) butterflies were visiting the shrub. On the under surface of the hindwing, you can see the small silvery marking for which this species is named, a curving comma and a white dot. The silhouette of the closed wings also demonstrates the source of a common name for these butterflies: anglewings.

This individual looked a little battered and tattered, but still very pretty. Question Marks fly spring through fall. There are two broods, and the second-brood adults hibernate and mate in the spring. It’s amazing to think of these seemingly delicate creatures surviving the winter.

The Viceroy (Limenitis archippus) is well-known as a mimic of the Monarch butterfly. It was once thought that the Viceroy gained protection by mimicking the noxious Monarch, but it is now believed that the Viceroy may also be distasteful to some predators itself. The Viceroy is smaller than the Monarch, and can be readily distinguished from the larger butterfly by the black band that crosses its mid-hindwing. The Monarch’s larval foodplant is milkweed, while Viceroy larvae dine on willows, and sometimes poplars or other trees.

White Admirals (Limenitis arthemis) are closely related to Viceroys. Like Viceroys, their larval plantfoods include willows, poplars and birches. While Question Marks hibernate as adults, White Admiral caterpillars born late in the summer use silk to roll up a leaf to hibernate in until spring. The white hydrangea flowers make a perfect backdrop for these beauties.

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