Butterflies

Red-Spotted Purple This page has a few of the butterflies that have passed through our yard during the spring and summer. Some of them I know the names of, a lot of them I may not. If you know the name you can send me the information and I will put it on the page, giving you credit for the name. Most of the pictures on this page are smaller versions. To see the larger pictures click on the picture. If there are more pictures of the same butterfly these will also be on that page. The easy ones I will put the names that I think goes with them. The skippers, coppers and such I will probably not even attempt to ID at this time. They just look too much alike and I am not a real butterfly person. I just like to look at them. The one pictured here is a Red-Spotted Purple. I use The Audubon Society Field Guild to North American Butterflies to ID the butterflies in our yard.

Pearl Crescent I am not sure about this one. It kind of resembles the Pearl Crescent in my butterfly book. There are so many that look almost alike to me that I leave this as only a guess. It is one of the most often seen butterflies in our yard, especially since the Black-eyed Susans have been blooming. They don't seem to mind that you are around watching them, and a couple times I have had one land on my T-shirt. They are a brightly colored smaller butterfly and are around most any time of the day.

Silvery Checkerspot

Hoary Edge Butterfly He was a regular visitor while the Sweet Williams were blooming. I haven't noticed one lately so maybe he doesn't like the flowers that are blooming now. Or maybe I just haven't been around at the right time. Since it has gotten so hot and dry I don't spend as much time out at the flower patch so I may just be missing his visits. This picture was taken 8/1/2007.

Eastern Tiger Swallowtail This one is the Eastern Tiger Swallowtail. He seems most interested in the flower that he is on and the catnip which has been blooming for the past couple weeks. There are a lot of them around all summer and I see them on a number of different plants. They seem to always be around when I don't have the camcorder with me so it took me a long time to get any pictures of one. Usually they are a little nervous when I get around and just when I get ready to take pictures they fly off. This fellow seemed to be extra hungry because he put up with me for several minutes before he flew off. The picture on the right was taken 8/22/2007 and there is a larger version available by clicking on the picture.

Red Admiral Butterfly There were a lot of them around this summer, but none of them would hold still long enough to get a good picture. These will have to do until next summer. These pictures were taken 8/18/2007 and larger versions are available by clicking on the pictures.

Cloudless Sulfur Butterfly This is one of the Sulfur Butterflies, but I haven't narrowed it down to the specific one yet. The picture on the left was taken 9/6/2007 and the one on the right was taken on 8/1/2007. Larger versions are available by clicking on the pictures.

Silver Spotted Skipper on right. Gray Hairstreak on left

Gray Hairstreak Picture taken 8/1/2007

Red-banded Hairstreak Picture taken 9/18/2007

Silver-spotted Skipper

Little Glasseywing

Zabulon Skipper

Eastern Comma Butterfly, Dark Form

Hackberry Emperor, Asterocampa celtis

Clouded Skipper

Tawny Emperor, Asterocampa  clyton

Clouded Skipper To me this looks exactly like the picture of a Spotted Skipperling in my Butterfly book. The only problem is I live around 1500 miles east of the spotted's range. I'm still working on this one. This butterfly identified by Will Cook 8/22/2008. Thanks Will.

Eastern Tiger Swallowtail Picture taken 09/10/2007.

American Lady Butterfly Picture taken 09/10/2007 Click the pictures for larger versions of those pictures.

Buckeye Picture taken 9/28/2007

I want to thank Will Cook for his help in identifying some of the butterflies.

To check out some  books that will help you attract wildlife to your  backyard go to our Backyard  Wildlife Books page or check out Books About Butterlies.