Hi all -
I noticed two new butterflies today. These may be easy for you guys to identify, but hard for me (a newbie to butterflies). Does anyone know what sort this is?
Thanks!
Butterfly ID #1
beautiful Red Admiral
Thank you, DonnaB! I was hoping that you would be online. :-)
Nice picture juju--
juju or donna--perhaps you can help me--Did you happen to see the Red Admiral fly? Was it fast and low?
I saw a butterfly (I think) that flew so fast, direct, and low about 2-3 feet off the ground for maybe 20 feet, then landed in the grass. Made another flight. I chased. Again. I couldn't ID it but thought maybe it was a Red Admiral.
Or maybe not even a butterfly the way it flew was strange-- not like other BFs I have been watching (Tiger ST, monarchs, cabbages, etc.) Maybe a grasshopper? But it had black wings with borders.
Sorry couldn't get a pic. I have been through 'Kaufman' looking for pics with no luck.
Any ideas? Thanks.
I honestly don't know. I have only seen one here twice and it was busy feeding.
They were here in the spring...haven't seen one since the true HEAT started. Can't really blame them. If I could, I'd be some place cooler. I don't remember them being extremely fast. Sometimes they like to get on the ground or on a rock, when they're not nectaring.
Tabasco,
I don't recall the Red Admiral flying particularly low and fast. He did land on both of my butterfly bushes, including perching on a bloom that was only 2 feet or so off the ground. But he definately wasn't fast; he spent a long time lingering at various blooms on the bush.
The funny thing is, I usually see multiples of the each butterfly type. So far, he is the only Red Admiral that I've seen. (Of course I often don't get to spend much time outside during the weekdays.)
Speaking of butterfly behavior, I DID see two monarchs engaged in what looked like a fight. I don't know much about butterfly behavior so I could be completely wrong...but that's what it looked like to me. Do they fight??
WOW, JuJu, that is fantastic. John
Thank you. Now I am thinking what I saw was not a butterfly at all but maybe a moth or even a dragonfly--I am stalking my garden with my camera, trying to catch a picture of it.
(You can tell I am a newbie at lepidoptery, can't you?! LOL)
I think Red Admirals are pretty rare in these parts.
I'm a newbie too, and I'm sure my neighbors as well are wondering why I'm scurrying through the bushes with a camera!
Donna, thats a beauty you have flying around in your garden! Nice photo!