Beauteous Butterflies

tanjabrittonwriter 56 Comments

Next to birds and flowers, I probably pay closest attention to butterflies and moths. These are fascinating creatures with winged scales (which is reflected in the name of their order, Lepidoptera, or lepidopterans, from Greek lepis, meaning “scale,” and pteros, meaning “wing”). An estimated 180,000 lepidopteran species exist on this planet which is a formidable number.

I’m not a lepidopterist (or specialist in lepidopterology) by any means, and can probably identify only a dozen or so butterflies reliably, but I’m perfectly fine with that fact. I simply try to enjoy these winged wonders that appear so fragile yet manage to cross formidable distances (some Monarch butterflies are known to travel 3,000 miles, flying between 50 and 100 miles a day, with the help of thermals and air currents). This feat seems even more impressive as we tend to see butterflies only when they flit from one blossom to the next, covering little mileage in the process.

As I mentioned to a fellow blogger recently, I’m hopelessly behind with posts. These butterfly images were taken in 2023 in Colorado and meant to be shown this past winter, when it was cold and there was little color about.

I have noticed few butterflies so far this year and hope this is due to my inattention and the fact that many species emerge later in the summer—and not because of a further decline in their numbers. Many insects are in trouble because of climate change, habitat loss, and pesticide use and they need our help. Lepidopterans don’t just have aesthetic appeal, they are important pollinators, thereby assisting with the task of plant reproduction and diversity (more than 80% of flowering plants require pollination, including many human food crops).

Isn’t it past time to stop using pesticides and, instead, to plant flowers for our beauteous and wondrous pollinators?

To enlarge a photo, click on it. To read its caption, hover cursor over it.

Cabbage White (Pieris rapae)/Kohlweißling
Unknown (to-me) butterfly/?
Common Alpine (Erebia epipsodea)/?
Painted Lady (Vanessa cardui)/Distelfalter
Painted Lady (Vanessa cardui)/Distelfalter)
Black Swallowtail (Papilion polyxenes)/Schwarzer Schwalbenschwanz
Black Swallowtail (Papilion polyxenes)/Schwarzer Schwalbenschwanz
American Monarch (Danaus plexippus)/Amerikanischer Monarch
American Monarch (Danaus plexippus)/Amerikanischer Monarch
American Monarch (Danaus plexippus)/Amerikanischer Monarch
Western Tiger Swallowtail (Papilio rutulus)/Westlicher Tigerschwalbenschwanz

🦋🐝🐛🦋🐝🐛🦋🐝🐛🦋🐝🐛🦋

These sprays, dusts, and aerosols are now applied almost universally to farms, gardens, forests, and homes—nonselective chemicals that have the power to kill every insect, the “good” and the “bad,” to still the song of birds and the leaping of fish in the streams, to coat the leaves with a deadly film, and to linger on in soil—all this though the intended target may be only a few weeds or insects.

Can anyone believe it is possible to lay down such a barrage of poisons on the surface of the earth without making it unfit for all life? They should not be called “insecticides,” but “biocides.”

(Rachel Carson, Silent Spring, 1962)

56 thoughts on “Beauteous Butterflies”

  5. Some real beauties here. My love of wildlife began with butterflies, and they remain close to my heart. Rachel Carson must be turning in her grave at what we, as a species, have done to them. So sad.

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    • Thank you, Mr. P. It’s easy to understand why and how butterflies enchant and get us interested in nature. It’s much harder to understand why we continue to do what’s detrimental to them and, as a consequence, to the entire web of life. 😢

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    • Thank you for the suggestion, Linda. Callippe a good possibility. It would be nice to see that butterfly’s wings extended. I don’t remember seeing any orange but that sighting was in August of last year and I might have forgotten. I will keep my eyes open this summer and try to find one like it again for closer study.

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  9. What an absolutely gorgeous collection, Tanja!

    You can post these at any time of year and they are certain to brighten up everyone’s day. I’m jealous of that Common Alpine. Stunning!

    I think Linda may be right about image #2. My understanding is they can range in color from very pale tan to bright orange. Here is another look at a fairly pale pair and the pattern looks like yours: Speyeria_callippe_meadii_F-L_M-R_Mt_Lindo_Jefferson_Co_CO_USA_9-VII-09_259.jpg (840×600) (butterfliesofamerica.com)

    Hope the rest of your week is filled with beauty.

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    • Thank you, Wally. That Common Alpine was my only encounter thus far. And I appreciate you sharing your thoughts about my mystery butterfly. I think the absence of orange made it more difficult for me to identify it. As I told Linda, I will try to keep my eyes open this summer in hopes of seeing another one and getting photos with the wings extended.

      I return your good wishes for a good week and summer!

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    • I wonder what Rachel Carson would say about our present state of environmental affairs.

      I have only read excerpts from her books but they are all on my TBR list. I checked out The Sea Around Us from the library once but had to return it before I had a chance to read it. I know I should, have heard marvellous things about it.

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    • Thank you, Lisa. After seeing the vast smorgasbord of nectar and pollen in your garden, I’m motivated to try to add more native flowers to ours. We have been trying to plant native wildflowers and shrubs for a number of years but there is still room for improvement.

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  18. Ein schönes Schmetterlingssortiment hast Du hier versammelt, liebe Tanja.
    Hier sehe ich kaum noch Schmetterlinge, wenn überhaupt dann meist Zitronenfalter.
    Zur Zeit labt sich eine kleine grüne Raupe an den Blättern einer meiner Mauretanischen Malven auf dem Balkon. Sie hat ihre Größe schon fast verdreifacht, seit ich sie entdeckt habe. Vielleicht erlebe ich sogar, daß sie sich auch an der Futterpflanze verpuppt, und ich kann einmal beobachten, wie ein Schmetterling schlüpft.
    Herzlich grüßt
    Ulrike

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    • Dankeschön, liebe Ulrike, es freut mich, daß Dir unsere Falter gefallen.

      Ich bin sehr gespannt, wie sich Deine grüne Raupe entwickeln wird und ich wünsche Dir sehr, daß Du ihre Metamorphose verfolgen kannst. Das wäre bestimmt ein Höhepunkt Deines Jahres. Ich drücke Euch beiden die Daumen.

      Beschwingte Grüße zurück,

      Tanja

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  19. It’s interesting to see the varieties from where you live. Some of these were present in Florida (I lived there for a couple of years), as for the Monarch, the Caribbean has a smaller sub-species named ‘Danaus plexippus ssp. portoricensis’.

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    • Thank you, Maria. I imagine that both Florida and the Caribbean have even more spectacular varieties of butterflies because of more tropical conditions. My knowledge of them is very limited but I hope I can encounter and learn about more species as time goes on.

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  20. Wunderschön. Kannst du Dir vorstellen, dass ich hier nach meiner Rückkehr aus Texas noch keinen Falter gesehen habe. Nun denn, bald soll bei uns das Wetter besser werden, vielleicht fliegen sie dann. Hoffen wir es.
    LG
    Maren

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  21. Wonderful set of photos, Tanja. It’s kind of mind blowing just how many species of moths and butterflies there are. I’ve enjoyed a bounty of skippers this year, feeling fortunate about that. We share many of the same species, I notice from your lovely shots.

    I’m traveling at the moment, now near Olympic National Park. I haven’t seen many butterflies in the hikes, but today on a hike where there was a surplus of alpine bloomers, there where gobs of native bees and syrphid flies. Yippy!

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    • Thank you, Tina. It’s nice to know that we get to enjoy some of the same beauties in our respective regions.

      I’m glad you are seeing many bees and flies in Washington and I wish you many more lovely discoveries during your travels.

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  22. Very whimsical Tanja. I read a story once (can’t remember where) where they were called “flutter-by’s”. We did catch a few varieties on a recent trip to CO (last week), the Cabbage White. One has to wonder what is going on with their seemingly random navigation between nectar sources.

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    • Yes, flutterby is a good name for these flitting and fluttering creatures.
      If/when you come back to CO this summer, you might see more varieties. I get the impression that even in the last several days their number have been increasin.

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  23. Oh wie schön! Da hast du eine wunderbare Collage zusammengestellt, liebe Tanja. Einen Schwalbenschwanz habe ich leider schon lange nicht mehr gesehen. Ich erinnere mich, dass sie früher gern in unseren blühenden Wiesen herumflatterten. Als Kind setzte ich mich oft still in das Gras und wünschte mir, dass sie sich mal auf meine Hand setzen.

    Sonnige Sommergrüße für dich….von Rosie

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    • Vielen Dank, liebe Rosie, Ich wünsche Dir einen Sommer, in dem Du mal wieder einige Schwalbenschwänze zu sehen bekommst. Und daß sich einer wirklich mal auf Deine Hand setzt.
      Das ist mir übrigens einmal passiert, und ich werde diesen wunderbaren Moment nie vergessen.
      Beschwingte Grüße,
      Tanja

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