Butterfly Neighbors

Despite the quarantine, or perhaps because of it, I’ve been spending my summer making new friends. I’m embarrassed to say, that despite living among them for my entire life, I’m just now making their acquaintance. Please allow me to introduce them – I’m sure some of them, or perhaps their cousins, live near you as well.

Butterflies can be separated into families. This is fortunate for newbies like me, because butterflies are overwhelming. Some look so much alike I can’t even see the difference when staring at photos in a guidebook. Others look different to me but are the same species. It’s all very confusing.

First a disclaimer. I’m taking my information from a wonderful online class with Bryan Pfeiffer – a man who knows his butterflies and how to get students excited about them, as well as from various field guides, particularly A Swift Guide to Butterflies of North America by Jeffrey Glassberg. I’m checking my info, however, I am a newbie and any mistakes are my own.

We can start by breaking it down into 6 North American butterfly families. Actually, I’m only going to talk about 5, because one family – the Metalmarks, don’t fly near me. The ones I’m learning are:

Swallowtails, family Papilionidae. These are the easiest for me to identify. They are large and have “swallowtails.” Below is probably a Canadian Tiger Swallowtail, but possibly an Eastern Tiger Swallowtail, or even a hybrid. (Feel free to let me know in the “comments” below.)

Whites and Yellows and Sulphurs, family Peridae are the next family. They are identifiable by their color, which is usually, yes, white or yellow. But it can also be on the green side of things, or even pink edged, but they have a pale pastel look to them and the never stop flitting around!

Gossamerwings, family Lycaenidae, are difficult for me. To begin with there are a lot of them. They can be further divided into coppers, hairstreaks, blues and harvesters. My goal is to place them within their sub family. These are beautiful small creatures, with delicate lines and colors. They are easy to overlook, but I recommend spending time with them.

Brushfoots family Nymphalidae, are also tough. These butterflies include checkerspots, crescents, fritillaries, ladies, commas, admirals and others. No wonder it’s confusing. I try to identify it’s broader group – ah yes, that’s a comma and over there is probably a crescent. But really… Fortunately many of them like to pose for the camera.

Here are a few of the more obvious.

Then comes my favorite group. The Skippers, family Hesperiidae. I’m not sure what it is I like about these little dudes and dudettes, but they are cute. They are small and fly around like the busiest of bees. Unless they have strong markings I don’t bother trying to identify them, I just enjoy their presence.