I had never seen a Buckeye butterfly before, so it came as quite a surprise to see one on the trail at Fort Hill yesterday. I had no idea what it was… only that it was just beautiful! Those colors and those spots! What could it be? (Click on blog link to see other photos.)
I posted 3 different photographs: 1. The upper side of the Buckeye which is very colorful. 2. The wings are partially closed. 3. The wings are mostly closed. How different it looks when its wings are closed. It just blends in. It seemed to like being right on the gravel trail.
The Buckeye lives year-round in the southern United States but ventures up to New England for the summer. It has a wing span of 2- 2.5″. It is brown with 2 orange bars on its forewings and 2 different sized eyespots on each wing. It lives in open fields and meadows.
Have you ever seen a Buckeye butterfly? Those colors and patterns are gorgeous!
Phil and I were sitting on a bench by Rock Harbor, enjoying the spectacular day and the gorgeous views. Right in front of us, an American Painted Lady butterfly landed on a yellow flower. I clicked away thinking it was a Painted Lady butterfly. (Click on Blog link to see other photo.)
It wasn’t until I got home and looked at it on my computer that I realized it was an American Painted Lady. You can tell the difference by the 2 blue spots on each of its hind wings. You can see them inthe fist photograph. Very pretty.
The 2nd photograph shows you the distinct difference in its upper side and underside. Quite a bit of camouflage when its wings are closed!
Have you ever seen an American Painted Lady butterfly?
Phil was making dinner the other night when he looked out the front window and saw this brown butterfly on the railing. I got my camera and went outside to take some photographs, not knowing what kind of butterfly it was. (Click on link to see other photograph.)
In doing some research, I found that the brown is the underside of a Question Mark butterfly and acts as camouflage. These Question Mark butterflies are frequently called “anglewings” for the shape of their wings which you can easily see in both photographs.
It stayed on the railing until dark, so I never got a photograph of the upper side. The 2nd photograph is from Wikipedia so you could see difference between the upper side and the underside. Quite a difference, don’t you think?
This is the first of many, hopefully, Red Admiral butterflies that we will see here on Cape Cod this summer. They are usually very abundant here on Cape Cod.
I was so surprised a couple of weeks ago to see this little green Monarch butterfly chrysalis hanging on one of the shingles of our home. It was breathtaking with it gold beads so evenly spaced. It’s only about an inch tall. We have some butterfly flowers growing nearby, so a Monarch must have laid her eggs on it and the resulting caterpillar crawled over to our house and up about 2 feet where it made its chrysalis.
I watched the metamorphosis of a Monarch on YOUTube. It is amazing! And to think that would happen in our yard was unbelievable! I highly recommend watching the video.
But… it was so late in the season. Would it make it? I googled it a bit and made a few phone calls and was told that it could make it if the weather wasn’t too cold. Well, it’s been cold, but not freezing. My fingers were still crossed. I went out daily to take photographs as the chrysalis will darken up a bit and then turn transparent so you can see the Monarch butterfly inside. And then its should emerge about 10-14 days later.
I took daily photographs for about 10 days and then I realized that it’s still looked the same for the past week. Either its taking a very long time or it isn’t going to make it. Still keeping my fingers crossed…
Isn’t this chrysalis just spectacular?
Cape Cod daily articles on the wonderful Cape Cod places to hike, experience and photograph. A Cape Cod Outdoor Adventure Series.
