Eastern Snout Butterfly and Some Other Puddlers

Dry weather continues and the pond has made its transformation into a mud hole.  Open water is gone, but the area is still attractive to a wide range of wildlife species.  The most noticeable are the butterflies that come to claim water and minerals from the soupy mud.

The Eastern Snout Butterfly, a species uncommonly seen around here, has come to the mud in record numbers.  Normally I only get to see one or two of this species each year.  On this day there were at least a dozen scattered across the mud flat.  This guy has a profile that is unmistakable.  You don’t have to be very close to recognize the squared off back edge of the wings.  It looks like someone snipped them off with pinking sheers.

On the front end is the snout formed by super long labial palps.  If you’ve ever seen one of these butterflies, you’ll never fail to recognize it.

You don’t even have to get close for an accurate identification.  This is the first time I’ve seen this species at the pond, but I’m not surprised they’re here now.

The host plant of the Snout Butterfly larvae is the Hackberry.  This Hackberry growing at the edge of the pond has just gotten large enough to support a colony of Snouts.  I’m going to have to trim this tree back to keep it out of the electric lines, but I hope it will serve for many years as a nursery for Snout Butterflies.

Total butterfly numbers continue to be lower than normal.  I keep wondering if the severe storms and flooding we had earlier are partly responsible.  Even so, several other species joined the Snouts on the mud.  These four Clouded Sulphurs remained as a group as they moved from place to place about the pond bottom.

There were several skippers about, all Wild Indigo Duskywings.  These were all dark, crisply patterned individuals that must have just recently emerged.  As they age, colors fade and scales are lost, making some of the skippers very hard to identify.  It’s nice to see them in such prime condition.

Pearl Crescents were represented by a single individual.  I’ve been seeing them around, but their numbers are much lower than normal.

Eastern Tailed Blues are around in good numbers.  This species is normally very common, but its small size causes it to be overlooked by many people.  Fortunately, it’s tolerant of close approach, so you can slowly work yourself in close for a good look.  I’m hoping that butterflies will become more numerous of summer progresses. 

Butterflies - Early April

Butterflies are certainly out in impressive numbers and a first impression might indicate this to be the beginning of an outstanding butterfly year.  Olive Hairstreaks are certainly making a superb showing.  They showed up weeks earlier than expected and may be the most common butterfly species currently in the air at Blue Jay Barrens.  Every gravel bar in the creek seems to have one or two of the colorful creatures.

Many have staked out territories on their host plant, Eastern Red Cedar.  I’ve seen this butterfly in every prairie opening here.  I’ve probably seen more Olive Hairstreaks this year than I’ve totaled in all of my years prior to this.

They’re the only small butterfly I’ve seen at the Redbuds.  While I’m enjoying the bounty of this uncommon species, I’m wondering about the absence of other species.  Henry’s Elfin, which I mentioned earlier, usually appears a couple of weeks prior to the Olive Hairstreak.  So far this year, I’ve seen no Henry’s Elfins.  I’m wondering why.

Eastern Tailed Blue made its appearance early this year and is also common on the wet gravel along the creek.  A common butterfly that I haven’t seen this year is the Spring Azure.  Spring Azures are usually seen several weeks earlier than Eastern Tailed Blues.  What happened to the Spring Azures this year?  I’m out often enough that I shouldn’t have missed seeing them, no matter how early they emerged.

Clouded Sulphurs are all over the place.  Populations of this species always increase as summer progresses, so this may indeed be a record year for Sulphurs.

The white form of Clouded Sulphur is also abundant, but once again there’s a similar looking butterfly that is conspicuous by its absence.  I counted just a single Falcate Orange-Tip this year.  Falcate Orange-Tips show up about a week before the Clouded Sulphurs and I usually count dozens of them before the sulphurs begin adding their numbers to the mass of white butterflies.  This absence of regularly seen species makes me wonder if the weird winter weather is somehow responsible.  Warm wet winters have been known to cause fungus and disease problems in some overwintering insect species.  I hope that hasn’t happened to these butterflies.

Some species are here on their normal schedule.  Gemmed Satyrs show up early and are never very numerous.  It’s also hard to catch them sitting still, so I don’t have an excess of quality photos.  This is about my average shot for this species.

Swallowtails are around in near normal numbers.  Most stay on the wing and are just seen briefly as they pass.  This Zebra Swallowtail was visiting a damp spot along the creek.  Now that we’re in the season when rain is to be expected, all the rain storms seem to be giving us a miss.  We’re getting the wind, but the water has stayed away.  Most damp spots have turned dry and the creek is the only suitable area for puddling.

Juvenal’s Duskywings have flocked to the creekside.  This is a large skipper that is quite conspicuous in flight.  I saw up to a dozen of these sharing the same gravel bar.  Having them all take wing at once was quite an impressive sight.

This Mournful Thyris is a day flying moth, not a butterfly.  The tiny little thing was feeding on a bird dropping in the gravel along the creek.  If it hadn’t flown in just as I walked up, I would never have noticed it.  It’ll be interesting to see how things develop this year with our typical summer time butterflies.

Dry Pond Butterflies

The tadpole stew that was left behind after the pond went dry is attracting a wide range of butterfly species. A Giant Swallowtail spent over an hour sucking up the nutritious goo. This is the first time I’ve ever seen one of these super sized butterflies sit still.

The Buckeye is an immigrant species that can’t survive Ohio winters and must reestablish itself from southern populations each year. I typically see this species in September as it suns itself in open areas. It’s not a normal pond bottom feeder.

Spicebush Swallowtails are regular visitors to mud puddles. Spicebush, the host plant of this particular butterfly, is not very common at Blue Jay Barrens. Fortunately, the butterfly also utilizes Sassafras as a larva food source and Sassafras grows here in abundance.

Pearl Crescents are always common visitors to the damp pond bottom. Sometimes found with the Pearl Crescents is the similar, but slightly larger Silvery Checkerspot. That’s the Silvery Checkerspot with its wings partially opened. Silvery Checkerspots tend to standout in a crowd of Pearl Crescents because of the sharp detail of the pattern on the underside of the hind wing. They are also slightly larger and display a flight pattern that seems more under control than that of the Pearl Crescents.

Pearl Crescents and Eastern Tailed Blues are the most dependable pond bottom visitors. They’ll visit every year even when the mud hasn’t been enhanced by a mass of decomposing amphibian larvae. Butterflies haven’t been overly abundant this year, so I have to think that the presence of the tadpoles has been a factor in attracting the more uncommon species to the pond bottom.

Several Skipper species have also swarmed into the mud flats. Peck’s Skippers numbered in the dozens. I like the skippers that show a little bit of recognizable patterning. It helps a lot with the identification.

There were also several unadorned skippers flitting about. This type and another with a more golden coloration were quite abundant. I’ve not yet mastered all of these skippers, so this one will remain unnamed today. Skipper ID is just another interesting thing I can look forward to pursuing in the future.

Butterflies and the Final Pond Mud

This has been a great year for butterflies and now is the time to be watching for southern species that extend their populations into Ohio during the late summer. This is a Little Sulphur, a regular immigrant species found at Blue Jay Barrens. It’s a very flashy butterfly that I may see once or twice each season. This northward expansion is a risky business for species such as the Little Sulphur. These temporary populations are killed by cold winter temperatures and this behavior can appear to do nothing but destroy a lot of butterflies. Species increase their chances of survival by occupying every acceptable habitat they can find and aggressive immigration guarantees that every possible opportunity is taken to improve the long term chances for survival.

As has been the case with many other species this year, the area is thick with Little Sulphurs. These three are probing for the last of the moisture from the drying pond. It’s interesting that the above normal rainfall we were having earlier in the year ended abruptly in mid July and we’ve been in drought mode since then.

I talked earlier about the butterfly’s habit of taking mineral laden moisture from the damp earth. This puddling behavior provides a great opportunity to observe large numbers of butterflies. Each day without rain brings more butterflies into this last bit of moisture left by the disappearing pond.

The pond sediments have shrunk during the drying process, causing cracks to form in the pond bottom. The moisture no longer wicks to the surface as it did when water was more plentiful. These Eastern Tailed Blues have to probe deep to find any moisture.

Many of the Pearl Crescents have taken to probing around the base of plant debris. Apparently the mulching effect of the plant material makes it easier to find moisture near the surface.

The grouping behavior of the different species reminds me of herds of grazing animals moving across the African veldt. Each butterfly species searches for moisture in a slightly different manner and location. So, like those grazing herds, the different species utilize the same resource, but in a manner that eliminates competition. It would be interesting to make enough observations to know whether this separation of species is a normal thing or if it’s just what’s been happening here during the past couple of weeks.

Hairstreaks

There are a lot of butterflies out right now, but I’ve noticed that many people focus on the large butterflies and overlook the smaller specimens. Some of the gems of the butterfly world look at a distance to be just dime sized blobs of gray. One of my favorite groups is the hairstreaks. A slow approach will get you in close to these guys and you must be close to get the full effect of their magnificence. This is a Coral Hairstreak, currently the most abundant hairstreak in the air at Blue Jay Barrens. This specimen is sitting on the unopened blooms of a Butterfly Milkweed, Asclepia tuberosa. Butterfly Milkweed is a prime spot to watch for this and many other species of butterflies. Although they are usually easy to get close to, a startled individual will shoot away like it was jet powered.

Edwards’ Hairstreaks are especially abundant this year. Hairstreaks all share the same general facial pattern. Fortunately, the wing patterns allow the different species to be easily sorted out.

This is the Banded Hairstreak. I usually find this butterfly by unintentionally scaring it out of the grass in the prairie openings. Its dark gray color and rapid flight make it look like a piece of shale that’s been flipped into the air. They almost always come to rest on an oak, one of their host plants, in and around the prairie openings.

The tiny Eastern Tailed Blue is often mistaken for a hairstreak. This butterfly is so common that anyone who has ever gone outside during the summer has probably seen one.

From the upper side, you’d think it was an entirely different species. It’s really hard to see from a distance, but close up, the white edging really makes it stand out.

Well, not only have I strayed from the topic of hairstreaks, I’ve jumped from butterflies to skippers. I just had to throw in this picture of the persistent male and the female that just concentrated on sipping milkweed nectar. She eventually drank her fill and the couple buzzed off together.