My First Giant Swallowtail

Got my first giant swallowtail butterfly picture.
Papilio cresphontes

Wing Span: 4 - 6 1/4 inches
HUGE butterfly fluttering furiously.

Bigger than the
Monarch
Wing Span: 3 3/8 - 4 7/8 inches

Photo taken in Minnesota
but listed for North Dakota also.

google images
bugguide tree

The Year of the Butterfly

What is going on with the butterflies this spring?
They are arriving unusually early and there is a lot of them.
I took photos and managed to capture four different species in a matter of minutes. All blogged previously, so details there.



(Photo Top left, then clockwise: Monarch, Red Admiral, Painted Lady, Mourning Cloak.)

They were just all over the place, mostly landing on the dandelions, probably because there isn't much else out there yet.
The monarchs looked kinda rough/ragged when I examined the photos close up.
This was about 10am Saturday 12May12. It was beautiful out. Calm, clear, in the 50's maybe.

I tried googling:
butterflies+2012+population
and did find some talk on the topic.

A few links:
monarchs
red admirals

Butterflies Already

I was surprised to see lots of bumble bees and butterflies this early in the year.
We had a mild winter, so maybe that had something to do with it.
They were all over the dandelions.

This bumble bee is so cute! I just love that orange belly.



Orange-belted or Tricoloured Bumble Bee
(Bombus ternarius)

wiki
 There is another species of bumblebee, Bombus huntii, common throughout the western United States, that is nearly identical in coloration to ternarius, though it has primarily yellow facial hairs rather than black.

bugguide

The butterflies were Red Admirals (Vanessa atalanta)


blogged previously.

I saw a few sulfurs out there also.

Photo Walk

Some photos I like from a photo walk.



(Continuing the into the sun tall tree shadows photography study.)



Red Admiral Butterfly. I like the angle and the wood texture background. I thought it might be unusual to see butterflies this late in the autumn? Captured another one on camera but could not positively identify.

Curlycup Gumweed

Native August/September plant Curlycup gumweed always looks so yummy cheerful.
Bugs and butterflies love the stuff.
4 butterflies on a plant:



Clouded sulphurs or Orange sulphurs?

Previously:
sulphurs
gumweed

Meadow Fritillary

I think this is a Meadow Fritillary.



butterfliesandmoths
Meadow Fritillary (Boloria bellona)
Wing Span: 1 3/8 - 2 inches (3.5 - 5.1 cm).

North Dakota Butterflies

bugguide

npwrc
Atlas of North Dakota Butterflies

npwrc - Meadow Fritillary

ndsu

Cabbage Butterfly

Cabbage Butterfly (Pieris rapae)
Or
Small White

Same Tribe as Checkered White.

bugguide images
bugguide tree
Tribe Pierini - Cabbage Whites, Checkered Whites, Albatrosses
Genus Pieris
Genus Pontia

Monarch Butterfly

The first thing that comes to mind upon spotting one is B-I-G butterfly.

monarch-butterfly
Good photos of Caterpillar to Chrysalis to Monarch

The male monarchs have a black spot (scent scales release pheromones) on each of the hind wings over a vein.

obsessionwithbutterflies
Good Male vs female photos here.

previously

Butterfly

I think this butterfly is a Polygonia comma.
There's a winter and summer form. Must be the winter form.
I was surprised to see a butterfly this early. There was a break in the rainy/snowy overcast weather. It was sunny and maybe 45-50 degrees at about 10:30 am.

wisconsinbutterflies.org
(Has pics of winter and summer forms.)

"The Eastern Comma is the most common of the commas and is found throughout the state. Adults of this species hibernate and appear on warm sunny days in the early spring, even when there is still snow present. After a long winter it is a real pleasure to see these butterflies flying around."

bugguide drill down to
Genus Polygonia - Commas, Question Mark
Species comma - Eastern Comma

wiki
ND Butterflies

Butterflies Video

Testing:

450x338


320x240


This is one of my first attempts to create a video with Cyberlink PowerDirector8.

I used my butterfly photos I've posted on my blog (See label below).
Most were 4:3 ratio (420x315 or 450x338) so tried to find a video format with the same aspect ratio.
For choices, it seemed like I had either
320x240 (too small)
or
640x480 (too big).

I like the 16:9 ratio (480x270) mp4 size best for online posting. Seems about right without getting too large in size.

I couldn't figure out what the deal is on uploading videos within Blogger.
If I upload within Blogger, where are my videos stored and can I access my video files and delete them?
Picasa is a mystery too. To upload you need special software. BUT downloading is not available. Huh? What does that mean? Can I embed it in my blog or not?

Photobucket seemed straight forward about it. Upload images and videos here. Process. And now here's the embed code. Simple. Thank you.

Blogger complained about the code. I just had to add the closing tag for embed (</embed>).

About the music:
Maid with the Flaxen Hair, by Richard Stoltzman was a free sample song on my Laptop.
Google It

YouTube:
Richard Stoltzman on Maid With the Flaxen Hair
Part One of Two
Grammy award winning clarinetist Richard Stoltzman discusses his recording of Debussy's Maid With the Flaxen Hair on Navona Records.
Part Two

Medora Trip - Butterflies

I think these both drill down to Genus Colias:
Order Lepidoptera - Butterflies and Moths
Superfamily Papilionoidea - Butterflies (excluding skippers)
Family Pieridae - Whites, Sulphurs, Yellows
Subfamily Coliadinae - Sulphurs and Yellows
Genus Colias

Then maybe:
Species Colias philodice - Clouded Sulphur
Also called Common Sulphur or Yellow Sulphur
OR
Species Colias eurytheme - Orange Sulphur
Also called Alfalfa Sulphur

I picked the most common species.

Most Common Butterflies in North America

Variegated Fritillary Butterfly

Variegated Fritillary (Euptoieta claudia)



bugguide
butterfliesandmoths
enature
Butterflies of North Dakota

Painted Lady Butterfly

Photo Drive.
Painted Lady (Vanessa cardui)



Same Genus as Red Admiral.

bugguide
Genus Vanessa - Ladies and Red Admiral
Species cardui - Painted Lady

butterfliesandmoths
enature
"...the Painted Lady is perhaps the most widespread butterfly in the world, found throughout Africa, Europe, Asia and many islands, as well as in North America."

Butterflies of ND

Photo Walk - New Trail

New trail, yippy skippy.


Mourning Cloak (Nymphalis antiopa):

bugguide
enature
wiki
butterfliesandmoths

Fox:

Small Mammals of ND

Toad:

Could barely see this little guy, very camouflaged.
Toad vs Frog
Reptiles and Amphibians of North Dakota
Woodhouse's Toad (Bufo woodhousii), maybe?
enature

My first pic of
Black-headed Grosbeak (Pheucticus melanocephalus):

npwrc
cornell
enature
"Voice: Rich warble similar to that of a robin but softer, sweeter, and faster."
(I thought it was a robin, before I saw it in my telephoto lens, because it sounded like a robin.)

Flowers:

ID by family
Mustard Family
Looks like a Sweet rocket (Hesperis matronalis).
google images

Butterfly - Monarch

Monarch (Danau plexippus)

bugguide
"...compare Viceroy, which has a dark line across hindwing and is smaller."



See ND Butterflies
(pdf file mentioned here)

Besides the Viceroy, there are Queen and Soldier under the Genus Danaus
which look similar to the Monarch.

In ND butterfly pdf it says that "occasionally, a second species, the Queen [Danaus gilippus] butterfly strays into the Northern United States." (pg 8 under milkweed butterflies)

Soldier (Danaus eresimus) is not in North Dakota.

butterfliesandmoths.org

enature

Butterfly - Northern Crescent

Northern Crescent (Phyciodes cocyta)

bugguide

enature

butterfliesandmoths

ND Butterflies (Previous post)

Butterfly - Red Admiral

My fav, although it had grass covering parts.
Closeup detail not that good.

Red Admiral Vanessa Atalanta

wiki
(Nice pics here.)

bugguide
TREE:
Species Vanessa atalanta - Red Admiral
Phylum Arthropoda - Arthropods
Class Insecta - Insects
Order Lepidoptera - Butterflies and Moths
Superfamily Papilionoidea - Butterflies (excluding skippers)
Family Nymphalidae - Brushfooted Butterflies
Subfamily Nymphalinae - Crescents, Checkerspots, Anglewings, etc.
Genus Vanessa - Ladies and Red Admirals
Species atalanta - Red Admiral

Whew!

butterfliesandmoths

Quote from enature:

"...the Red Admiral will alight on a person's shoulder day after day in a garden.

In midsummer it is not unusual to see them chasing each other or Painted Ladies just before a thunderstorm or at dusk. "

ND Butterflies (Previous post)
(pdf file mentioned here is my first reference I go to for identification.)

Butterfly - Checkered White

Checkered White female (pontia protodice)


Best head detail:


Better back/wing detail:


Somebody has to like those dandelions, right.

enature
Google Images
ND Butterflies (Previous post.)

Butterfly - Wood Nymph

enature
Common Wood-Nymph (Cercyonis pegala)

A little better on the head detail:


Closeups were pretty soft, but I could tell that the head is very hairy and the edges of the wings are frayed.





Google Images

ND Butterflies (Previous post.)

Butterfly Identification - North Dakota

I found a really good place for North Dakota butterfly info.

I know about the North Dakota State University Agriculture and University Extension (Fargo, ND)

I know about the USGS Northern Prairie Wildlife Research Center (Jamestown, ND)

However, navigating those sites and finding the info I want can be rather difficult. Often it's thru the back door (googling) that I find what I want at a specific site.

Butterfly Gardening in North Dakota

Download the pdf file, e1266.pdf at the top where it says:
"Click here for an Adobe Acrobat PDF file suitable for printing. (350KB)"
This has big color pics, calendar, names.

At npwrc:
Atlas of North Dakota Butterflies
Lists the Brush-footed butterflies.