Butterfly question

[narnian]

Sounds like a pearl crescent to me,  I don't know how to post a photo....

Linda Z

[akajoan]

Here's another link to check out if you have time.

www.ontariobutterflies.ca/families

We use it quite often, along with our ROM Field Guide to Butterflies of Ontario.  Have seen a few Greater Fritillary lately.  Our Skippers  seem to have actually vanished once the rain started last Friday.  Have only seen one Monarch this year, and it was so much smaller that I thought it was a Viceroy, except that the marking were of a Monarch.

[nybirder]

I just finished checking a butterfly photo I took in the backyard this afternoon to be sure of ID. I am so thrilled--it was a Giant Swallowtail. Until about 5 years ago, I had never seen one--and believe me, I am out photographing butterflies all the time around the region. In recent years, they have started showing up in NY state but I wonder what they are finding to lay eggs on since their primary choice is citrus trees. In fact, a good friend and naturalist had one lay eggs on his potted grapefruit tree when he had it out on the porch--and the butterflies actually hatched. Pretty cool. I have heard that they lay eggs on the hoptree but I can't say I recognize the pictures I found of one so they can't be very common around here.

This poor butterfly was very tattered--obviously at the end of it's life span. We've speculated that in the recent, stormy summers we've had when there has been a strong southern flow of air, they may have been carried beyond their range. I checked the Ontario butterfly link--sure enough, it's listed there, too. www.ontariobutterflies.ca/families/Papilionidae/giant-swallowtail

The question is whether they are actually reproducing in any numbers up here in the north. Really large and impressive-looking butterfly, except for mine which obviously has been through the wars. But it was flying just fine the last time I saw it.

[tasty]

Those swallowtails look very familiar to me.  

One of them in the photos was pretty darn close to home.

[nybirder]

Tasty--one way to tell them from Tiger Swallowtails is that their top is black with white spots when they open their wings instead of the Tiger's yellow. Underneath, they are yellow. The other thing is that their body is yellow, too. I wouldn't be surprised if you did see one.

I checked on the hoptree--also called wafer ash because of the wide flat seeds they have. It's on the endangered list in NY state and--surprise--is in the citrus family. It's one of the northern-most citrus species. I didn't know that! Apparently it is found in largest numbers in the state near the shores of Ontario and Erie but is supposed to show up in other parts of the state. I don't recall ever seeing one--perhaps because it is so rare--but I'll be keeping my eyes open now that I know what they look like. So that appears to be the host plant for these butterflies up here in the north. 

I was surprised to read on the Canadian site that a number of them had been spotted around Ottawa so they are on the move.