Flower Hill Farm Butterflies of 2012 ~ Viceroy and Common Buckeye

The striking Viceroy Limenitis archippus, can be sighted in flight, here in Massachusetts, from around the end of May till the beginning of October.
Birds are now searching out the overwintering, hibernating, bird droppings-like caterpillars in their neatly constructed leafy 'tents' of apples, cherry or willow leaves. Like the Red-spotted Admiral they cleverly create a hibernaculum by drawing out silk from their bodies and securing leaves to twigs or branches so that they cannot fall. The third instar caterpillars then neatly fold the leaves creating a silky tunnel around their tiny bodies and proceed to sleep through most of fall, winter and well into spring.

Viceroys are consider common and abundant in Massachusetts. It would seem that the birds are fooled by the Viceroy's fastidious overwintering tents, as many caterpillars are able to emerge from their dry leafy homes and munch along the fresh green leaves that open in spring. Many successfully then hide out in their again bird poop-like chrysalis forms and after about ten days become butterflies.

Viceroys are designed to confuse birds and other predators by mimicking the toxic Monarch butterfly. I guess some birds do not attend the 'Butterflies Not To Eat' seminars or perhaps they learn to spit out the toxic body parts. The photograph above illustrates that to mimic is not always a guarantee to sail through life peacefully. I often see the Viceroy's cousin the Red-spotted purple (scroll down to last post) with tattered wings too, even though that butterfly form of the Red-spotted Admiral is suppose to be a mimic of the Pipevine Swallowtail.

Monarch butterfly on Left . . . Viceroy on Right

Though a viceroy is not as high in rank as a monarch, the butterflies do end up confusing people too. There are many differences but besides being smaller, the easiest identification mark is the 'smile line' through the Viceroy's hindwing vertical lines. If the butterflies are too far away to see these details, you can always discern the spectacular soaring flight of a monarch from any other butterfly.

I was not able to get any close ups of the Viceroy in 2012. The two images above from previous years clearly show the horizontal line going through the vertical lines on the hindwings. The Viceroy may mimic the Monarch but does carry its own potently unpleasing taste to deter predators. 

The Common Buckeye Junonia coenia, is not a mimic of any other butterfly but has it defense in its large eyes that might frighten any bird away. These migratory butterflies are not really so common here in New England. Some years they may be rare and others more abundant in numbers. I did not see but the one above in July of 2012 and could not get close to it. Butterfly hunting with a camera is hardly ever easy but the photographs below reveal a Common Buckeye from 2011 that was very close and allowed me to take over a dozen images.

The images above were from some of the photos that were my very first sighting here at Flower Hill Farm in July of 2011.  I was so thrilled the entire time I was clicking away. 

The Common Buckeye can be sighted in flight from July through September and then in large numbers in their fall migration. If you grow snapdragons or any of their family members please allow some of these butterflies larva to feed on the leaves. Caterpillars also eat Blue Toadflax, False Foxglove and other plantain family members. There may be other plants that please the Common Buckeye too so be sure to identify any caterpillars before you remove them. Who needs perfect plants anyway? The butterflies tend to favor the composite family. 

Gardening for butterflies can be so rewarding! 

These are all the butterflies (with open and folded wings) I have reviewed so far from my sightings at Flower Hill Farm in 2012. I have more to share. 

The temperatures in Western Massachusetts dipped down into the teens on Wednesday. I hope the emerging Mourning Cloaks were able to stay warm enough through the bitter cold night. 

Flower Hill Farm Butterflies of 2012 ~ Red-spotted Admiral

Later on in this merry month of April, here in Western Massachusetts, Red-spotted Admirals Limenitis arthemis, who survive the cold winter and foraging birds, will awaken from their overwintering third larva stage. Flower Hill Farm has many of the preferred larva host plants or trees. 

The sleeping caterpillars, mimicking bird droppings, may be hiding out in some of our Black Cherry, Yellow Birch, poplars, hawthorns and shadbushes. When they awaken, the caterpillars will munch on leaves for a few weeks and become chrysalis before beginning their flights as butterflies in May or early  June. In their time they will lay a single dome-shaped green egg on the tips of leaves of the host plant. 

It can be confusing to identify these butterflies if you did not know that two former species, the Red-spotted Purple and the White Admiral have now been lumped together as Red-spotted Admirals. 

This past June I sighted a butterfly feeding on, of all plants, bishop's weed.  

This photograph with the Red-spotted Admiral caught in the shade shows the truer red color of the spots. 

 I keep reading that various butterflies, the Red-spotted Admiral included, prefer tree sap or excrement to flowers, but I tend to always see them on flowers. They seem to enjoy a diversity of nectar and I must say I prefer a portrait with these backdrops, but it is a great survival technique to have a varied palate especially if there are no flowers in bloom. The Red-spotted purple is designed to mimic the Pipevine Swallowtail, which I have not sighted here as yet, but as with its cousin the Viceroy I do not see that mimicry is foolproof.

This Hawthorne may be a host for some of those sleeping caterpillars. I did not see the Red-spotted Admiral actually fastening eggs but just maybe (if it is a she) she did.

The only White Admiral form I was able to capture last year was exploring a peony. I am including others from previous years to further illustrate the different forms.

 Both forms of Red-spotted Admirals feeding on beauty bush in May of 2009. 

White Admiral form on garden heliotrope June 4, 2010

A Red-spotted Purple form is sharing the flowers. In the bottom left corner you can see the former 'White Admiral' form of the Red-spotted Admiral from 2010. Both forms are enjoying delicious garden heliotrope. I have had steady sightings throughout the years and do find it amazing that these butterflies survive in their overwintering stages both from the cold and the birds . . . they must be very clever in their 'tent' creations that hide and shelter them from the many winter storms. 

As I write it is snowing outside . . . only passing showers luckily. Snowdrops are taking a stand against the cold and melting snow in their dainty stately way. I guess I can bear up too.

It is heartening to see the snow disappearing. Our Phoebe returned two days ago and I saw my first butterfly of 2013. A Mourning Cloak enjoys the warmer days but I am not sure it can survive temperatures dropping to nearly 19 degrees . . . as in Fahrenheit. 

More butterfly sightings to share and I have not begun the birds of 2012. Where did the winter go?

Happy April.

Flower Hill Farm BUTTERFLIES OF 2011 ~ GRAND FINALE

The series Flower Hill Farm Butterflies  (all sightings and most photos are from 2011 with exception to a few from other years) along with a few other Lepidoptera . . . comes to its final metamorphosis . . . and end . . .  just as many buds are beginning to unfurl and reports of 2012 butterfly sightings begin. 

My knowledge and respect for these butterflies and moths has grown over the last fifteen or so posts. It was lovely spending all of January, February and most of March editing photos of these magical creatures, while learning more important facts about their life cycles. 

Our Flower Hill Farm gardens, blueberry fields, wildflower fields and forest do attract many more species of Lepidoptera. I have yet to capture but these few butterflies and moths (plus a few more not included in the collage above) in our wildlife habitat.

In Massachusetts alone there are hundreds of species that might live in our gardens, fields and along the forest edge. I now realize that I may have made it hard or impossible for other butterflies to survive here due to my stewardship practices.
I vow to never destroy an egg or caterpillar that I have not explicitly identified as an invasive pest. Gypsy moth eggs and caterpillars must still BEWARE! 

As I mentioned in the various posts in this series, many butterflies and moths overwinter in either egg, larva/caterpillar, pupa/chrysalis and a few even in adult butterfly stages. 

With all the best intentions, we go out into our gardens and fields to 'CLEAN UP' to prepare for the following season's glory. What we do not always realize is that by being so fastidious we are possibly killing or exposing creatures to predation or the elements. 

For many years I have hired a neighbor to mow the fields in November, now I will protect certain parts of the fields where host plants for different butterflies thrive.

A messy garden is a happier garden . . . for wildlife and me too!
I wish you all boundless butterfly sightings for 2012!
Another Friday already and so I send all my butterflies over to Sweden to join Katarina's Roses and Stuff.

Flower Hill Farm BUTTERFLIES OF 2011 - OTHER LEPIDOPTERA FAVORITES

Hummingbird clearwing Hemaris thysbe, also known as Hummingbird moth, is out in the gardens and fields sipping nectar during the day and often at dusk. 

People sometimes confuse Hummingbird clearwings with a real hummingbird due to its habit of hovering while feeding with its long proboscis. Host plants include honeysuckle, hawthorns, plums, cherries and snowberries.

Note the difference in the two species above and below. 

Snowberry clearwing Hemaris diffinis is more black but its coloration can vary. 

As its name implies . . .  this clearwing relies on snowberry. Other host plants are honeysuckle and dogbane.  Snowberry clearwings also fly about in the daytime and are more often seen in the summer months. 

All of the clearwings or Hummingbird moths are spritely flyers and like many butterflies they depend on our not being too fastidious with our clearing of debris, for they need leaves to spin within their cocoons and detritus along the ground offers protective covering through the cold winter months, while the pupa wait for spring. 

The lovely pale green Luna moth Actias luna, is one of the largest moth species in North America and is only active in the dark hours of night. Females can lay up to two hundred eggs. Here at Flower Hill Farm our Shagbark Hickory, White birch, Walnuts and even Sumac act as host plants. The caterpillars munch on leaves and shed their skin five times, as their relative butterflies and then overwinter in their silky cocoons beneath the chosen host plant. 

The adults have no mouth parts . . . imagine a simple life of sleep, flying and mating for one week only and you have an idea of the life of an adult Luna moth.

I forget to turn off a light the night this Luna moth comes to visit. Early next morning I carefully carry the sleeping moth inside, so that the birds will not have an unfair advantage. He sleeps all day and when the curtain of night falls, I hold him out to the dark air and watch as the beautiful creature takes his ghostly flight into a night of pursuing pleasure.  

They have amazingly strong wings but sometimes fall prey to our beloved bats.

A member of the Saturniidae family, Luna moths only have one brood here in the northeast. I usually see them in May but the one above was found in June. It looks like it might be already a few days old.

Another member of the Saturniidae family, the Rosy maple moth Dryocampa rubicunda also has no need of a mouth for they too do not eat as adults. Much smaller than their Luna cousins, the Rosy maple moths will also be attracted to a light and then will sleep through the night and next day. If a light is accidentally left on, I try to get them to fly into nearby plants in order to hide from birds. Females lay eggs on leaves of oak, sugar maple and other maples. The caterpillars spin a cocoon and sleep through the winter months. 

A mystery moth in the clutch of a flower crab spider. 

Moths can be very beautiful and their caterpillars can be very striking too. 

White Spotted Sable Moth Anania funebris, can be found in our fields and gardens in the daylight. 

The host plant is Goldenrod.

Intricately patterned mystery moth found on tree peony leaf.

Lovely white mystery moth with a yellow line through both wings found on iris. 

I missed Katarina's Floral Friday because I was enjoying a break with a dear friend by the sea . . .  and studying color with a fabulous expressionist painter and teacher through Provincetown Art Association and Museum.
Though there is not a wildflower within any of these photos the moths are pretty wild and hopefully considered wild enough for Gail's Wildflower shadings. 

The light and colors in Wellfleet, North Truro and Provincetown were magical! 

Wildlife was wondrous. 

I came home to spring but tonight is dipping down into the teens. Ouch! 

I think it fitting that upon arriving home . . . my first wildlife encounter in the gardens would be this magnificent Turkey vulture. (An amazing encounter I will share later.)

My teacher has encouraged me to use black paint in my work. 

Black can surely evoke power.
Turkey vultures are certainly more 'photogenic' than I had imagined. Attractive might be a stretch but truly . . . what a magnificent creature. 

Happy Spring to All! 

Flower Hill Farm BUTTERFLIES OF 2011 ~ Favorite Skippers

Skippers are feisty little butterflies of the Skippers Hesperiidae Family. 

Flower Hill Farm has residents from both the Subfamily: Grass Skippers and Spread-wing Skippers. 

I truly cannot be certain of these tiny creatures but guess this one to be a Black Dash. I am hoping for help from others and then will add the facts about this tiny adorable Skipper later.

Peck's Skipper Polites peckius, may be sighted in the hundreds during one of their flight periods. They  are most likely to be eyed in late May and the first brood flies about till the end of July. Then the second brood will take wing from the beginning of August flying into September. Females attach one pale green egg at a time to a stem of one of their host grasses. Peck's Skippers overwinter in both caterpillar and chrysalis forms.

Zabulon Skipper Poanes zabulon  Or   Hobomok Skipper Poanes hobomok  ??

The Silver-spotted Skipper Epargyreus clarus, of the subfamily Spread-wing Skipper, is a very common resident of Massachusetts and it is our most sizable skipper. Normally there is only one brood dashing and skipping about during June through the middle of August. Females fasten green ribbed eggs to leaves of the legume family or more precisely, on a plant near the host plant. Here at Flower Hill Farm I imagine them to favor the Honey Locust along the north field. They overwinter in the chrysalis stage. 

It looks as though there might be a tiny Tawny-edged Skipper Polites themistocles hanging out with these Silver-spotted Skippers. Just a guess from eyeing the bit of red on the wings.

I have read and witnessed the Silver-spotted Skippers dashing about really fast and happily I can say the same thing for spring. 

Warmer days have nearly melted all the snow on our hillside. 

Last evening we joyfully listened to the first woodcocks of the season!! There were three out in the fields and I chanced to see one flying too! Their magical mating dance and wing song is a sure sign of spring!

Mount Holyoke and Mount Tom under the changing skies. 

The landscape is rapidly melting from this . . . 

 to this.  Wild Turkeys are happy too! 

Look out little caterpillars and chrysalises!!

Another friday begins and already mid March . . . I hope you can click over to Katarina's 'Roses and Stuff' to see 'signs of Spring' from Sweden and around the globe.