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I had a lemon yellow butterfly today and yesterday I had one that was the color of aluminum foil with 3 copper dots on the bottom of it's wing. It was really cool. I am no where near fast enough to catch these things on film but they sure do love the zinnia.
From: triangle, virginia | Registered: Mar 2005
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We used to call the lemon yellow and white ones, "Cabbage" butterflies. I have beenn seeing20-30 lemon yellow and white ones a day lately but haven't been able to photograph them either. They are fast and never stop moving.
bbbbbbbbb A bird in the hand......can sometimes be a mess.
From: Nashville, TN | Registered: May 2005
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Thanks for the info Thorny. That is so neat. I don't remember butterflies being in this area in previous years so it is the zinnias that are bringing them. I don't have much else that flowers well or for a long time.
From: triangle, virginia | Registered: Mar 2005
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I have a lot of these tiny butterflies, Tiny Checkerspot in my yard. The site says they stay in the SOUTH WEST. hummm they could be wrong. Maybe I am identifying them wrong. These little butterflies land right on me and will just sit there.
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Thornius...that is, without a doubt in my mind, a Gulf Frittilary. It is one of my all time favorites. It's principal host plant (the one it lays eggs on, and the caterpillars feed on) is the passionflower vine. I have both passionflower and zinnias...they sure love to nectar on zinnias! The large, dayglow orange Cosmos are one of their favorites, as well!
From: norman, ok | Registered: Apr 2005
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Oui...are you sure you're not thinking of the Hackberry Emperor? They look pretty similar, and they frequently land on people.
From: norman, ok | Registered: Apr 2005
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I think they are American Copper's. But I would have to get a picture of what I have here to be sure.
The above site has several nice pictures of Gulf Fritillary. Including under wing shots. I searched and searced for a butterfly with those underwing markings this morning and could not find it till you named it..
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Yeah boy, those are pretty. I looked at the American Coppers at the link you left, and they look great, too. I may have ID'ed them before, I did the Audubon Society butterfly census (they have one every year around July 4,) and got pretty good at IDing, but I'm rusty on a lot of it now.
From: norman, ok | Registered: Apr 2005
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Oui
guests
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Well I am beginner when it comes to butterflies and birds. I was just up early this AM and thought I would give it a try.
Butterfly Census what is that?
I learned how to tell if a butterfly is male or female by looking at the shape of the wings this morning...<<SMILE>>
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The butterfly census is just like the bird census that Audubon hosts every year around or on Christmas. You go out and try to identify and count as many birds, or butterflies, as you can. You can do it in your yard, or wherever you want to, on a county to county basis, and you can count as long as you want within a 24 hour period. It is a way of getting a "snapshot" of just how many of what species are present on that particular day in that area. It's one of the ways they are able to determine which species visit an area, and whether their numbers are up or down in a given year. It's a great way to learn their names! I never knew you could tell a butterfly's sex from the wing shape! In some species, the color pattern of male and female is totally different!
From: norman, ok | Registered: Apr 2005
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Many thanks to peppereater who correctly ID'd this as a Gulf Fritillary. After checking I concur with him. I am pretty good at ID'ing 200 species of birds but just started on butterflies and insects this year. Many birders are now branching out to ANYTHING with wings, especially bats, insects, and butterflies. More and more of our bird reports include butterflies and insects, especially dragon and damsel flies that we have seen that day.
bbbbbbbbb A bird in the hand......can sometimes be a mess.
From: Nashville, TN | Registered: May 2005
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