Butterfly
and moth highlights at Fermilab -- 2006
Tom Peterson
September 19,
2006
On a relatively cool day, yesterday, I found a Viceroy
that was cooperative for a photo. Cool weather has arrived, and
the butterfly season is nearing it end here. Monarchs have mostly gone south. Sulphurs seem to tolerate the cool
temperatures pretty well, and will probably still be found through
October on sunny days. During the past few years, the Purplish Coppers here have also
lingered late into autumn.
September 8,
2006
In addition to the Purplish and Bronze Coppers that fly in late August /
early September, this time of year we can find the beautiful and
interesting moths of the genus Catocala, (underwing moths). These
are a little larger than the average small moth, from about a 2-inch to
a 4 inch wing span. As far as I know, they mostly overwinter as
eggs, hence the late summer flight season for the adult moths.
The two species below were a short distance from one another on
building AP-50 one morning recently. I took them to my office for
their portraits and then released them. These moths are well
camouflaged when sitting on trees, but when they fly and reveal their
brightly colored hindwings, they look like orange or red
butterflies. When they land again and cover the hind wings, they
seem to disappear. I pushed the one front wing forward for these
photos in order to show the normally hidden hind wing. Many of
these underwing moths have whimsical names. The one directly
below is the Once-married Underwing. The second one below is the
more prosaically named Yellow-banded Underwing.
August 31, 2006
The late August / early September generation of Purplish Coppers seems to be emerging
now. Yesterday, Bob Lootens and I found some very fresh looking
males flying in the wetland south of the Main Ring.
Buckeyes are patrolling paths and
fields, where they like to fly low and seem to stay in one area.
(Recent photo below)
August 2, 2006
Gray Commas were still flying at the edge
of the woods near Pine Street yesterday. Gray Comma is most
easily distinguished
from Eastern Comma by the underside markings, a more striated gray
appearance and a silver comma which does not have the "fish-hook" ends,
but looks more like a simple boomerang shape.
Another abundant woodland butterfly right now is the Northern Pearly-eye. Unlike
the commas and most other butterflies, the
Pearly-eyes do not seem to need to seek out the sun. They may
often be seen perching on a tree trunk in the shade of deep
woods. Just a few dozen meters to the west of the woods where
Pearly-eyes live is the restored prairie, where one almost never sees
Pearly-eyes,
but instead its close relative, the Common
Wood-Nymph, is abundant right now.
July 2, 2006
Mid-June through mid-July are the peak times for some of Fermilab's
remnant-dependent butterflies, those butterflies which live in and
depend on our small patches of relatively undisturbed
environments. At Fermilab, that mostly means wetland butterflies,
since, in spite of much draining, it was some wetlands that survived
the agricultural period. Dion Skippers
and Eyed Browns are now flying in sedge
meadows here at Fermilab. The first generation of Purplish Coppers, another wetland
butterfly, has passed already,
with the next generation likely in late July. Great Spangled Fritillaries
are flying now, especially near the woods edges.
I have continued to collect photos of moths through this spring and
early summer. With probably at least several hundred species on
site, I have still only scratched the surface. A nice find was a
live Promethea Moth female, in the giant silk moth family.
I have found the empty cocoons many
times here over the years, but no live Promethea Moths at Fermilab
until this one (photo below).
May 26, 2006
After a slow start with a cool, wet May, butterflies are out now in
good numbers. One of the most common this spring has been the Pearl Crescent. These orange
butterflies are very common but rather inconspicuous due to their small
size. They are named for the white crescent, seen on the outer
margin of the underside of the hind wing.