Butterflying...Testimonial of Sorts

"Oh, this is the coolest," she said. "I'm loving it." So spoke Katy Duffy, National Park Service interpretive planner. These words described a recent butterfly count at Yellowstone captured by reporter Kristen Inbody as a news story. A testimonial of sorts, still the gist of the story recounts the diversity, challenge, strategy, adventure, ecology of butterflies. It is a well written account capturing a lot of do's/don'ts of butterfly watching. I could identify with many of the participants and experiences. The bottom line for me, beauty and wildlife adventure are all around us, one need not go to Yellowstone to experience it on a pristine basis. Just like the movie Field of Dreams, if you build it (flower garden and/or wet spot in your own yard), these animals will come to you cutting down on some of the challenge. Here's a video snippet of my recent field trips to give you an idea of the action and beauty awaiting you:


So go ahead and dip your toe in the water, you won't regret wildlife watching butterflies :-)

Why So Few Green-Colored Butterflies in North America?

In a crude search of the Kaufman Field Guide to Butterflies of North America, I found only 18 species with green or 2.4% of all species. Green-colored butterflies are predominantly Hairstreaks, why is that? Below is a stunning Juniper Hairstreak (Callophrys gryneus) that I recently photographed (lifer). I did a Google Scholar search of the lepidopteria literature and could not find an answer to my question. Did come across Elements of Butterfly Wing Pattern by H.F. Hijhout which detailed that butterfly spots, stripes do not vary in positions across individuals, quite different than human fingerprints or zebra stripes and leopard spots. Hijhout states that butterfly spots/stripes are an "individuated"character that can be given a name and traced over the phylogenetic tree.

Juniper Hairstreak

Here's a couple of photos of the red/orange butterflies (can you identify to species?) coming to Sawmill creek (Sapphire Mountains of Stevensville, MT) to "mud"... find something great in your own neighborhood!