A new “life butterfly” for me today, thanks to my wife who spotted it first: Euphydryas phaeton, aka the Baltimore Checkerspot. This butterfly was incredibly cooperative and allowed me to take as many pictures as I needed to get a good one.
Category Archives: Lepidoptera
Chickweed Geometer
If your yard has clover growing in it, it might have these too: Chickweed Geometer, a relatively small but colorful moth about 3/4″ to 1″ in width, resting in the grass with its wings spread. My records show that my last observation was also in September– its their time of year.
Wild Indigo Duskywing
I’ve noticed an unfortunate trend on my blog, where I post a photograph of something I’ve seen and I add a comment like “I’m not 100% sure what this is, there’s a bunch that look just like this, I’m gonna guess this is XYZ, etc.” Well, here I am again, although this time I’m pretty …
Northern Pearly Eye
Once you have learned to identify the most common butterflies, the real challenge begins: realizing when you have something completely new on your hands! At first I though this was a Little Wood-Satyr, but the brown line on the wing seemed too jagged and the time wasn’t right: here in the north, the flight of …
June Moth Roundup
Here is a sampling of the moth species I was able to photograph this month. To start off we have a tiny moth (that’s a blade of grass it is clinging too), known as Crambus agitatellus. It has no common name and few details are known about this moth, but it seems to be quite …
Poanes Zabulon
I find Skippers hard to identify, and the Zabulon Skipper (Poanes zabulon) is no exception. I submitted this photograph to BAMONA for confirmation that it was in fact a Zabulon, and they confirmed it for me.
Bronze Copper
This is the best picture I’ve made of this small butterfly from the Lycaenidae family.
Eastern-tailed blue
This tiny butterfly can be difficult to photograph, especially with its wings open.
Clouded Sulphur
Doesn’t look very orange to you? Well maybe it’s orange on the inside. I submitted this photo to BAMONA, and they (eventually) classified it as Clouded Sulphur. (I assumed it was Orange Sulphur.) So I’ve updated this post with the new id.
Pearl Crescents
Dorsal view and ventral view of the Pearl Crescent butterfly (Phyciodes tharos) in a single photograph.