More Butterflies

The summer heat arrived this week, and with it an explosion of butterflies (being cold-blooded, they tend to like the heat).  Fritillaries, Sulfurs, Swallowtails of every stripe (literally), Western Pygmy-Blues, and Cabbage Moths (which are actually butterflies, not moths). This Buckeye (Junonia coenia) was sitting on the grass looking a little ragged, and I thought it was in distress or drinking beads of water.  But actually, it turns out that Buckeye males like to sit on the ground and wait for females.  It’s their favorite “dating spot.”  I saw another one sitting on the grass later.

Buckeye male

Here is a rather busy photo of an American Lady (Vanessa virginiensis). These butterflies are very common around here, along with their close relative, the Painted Lady, and can be distinguished by the “cobweb” design and blue "eyespots" (which for some reason look black in this photo) found on the undersides of the lower wings.  This one is drinking from a chaste berry (vitex) flower.

American Lady

This is either a Red-Lined Scrub-Hairstreak (Strymon bebrycia) or a Grey-Hairstreak (Strymon melinus), also drinking from a chaste berry flower.  Unfortunately, another flower is hiding the hilarious “second head,” that is a distinguishing characteristic of the Hairstreaks.  They have thread-like tails which they vibrate to imitate antennas, and the spots at the base of the wings look like eyes.  This is probably intended to confuse birds who might try to strike for their heads when attempting to catch them as prey, only to find that the "head" is just the corner of a wing. This butterfly is actually quite small, with a wingspan of about an inch.

Red-Lined Scrub-Hairstreak or Grey-Hairstreak