Wildlife Watching Wednesday: The Beautiful White Admiral Butterfly

By: Tom Berg

One of the common butterflies of the northern United States and Canada is the White Admiral. This stately-looking butterfly is very dark – almost black all over, with a very bright white stripe running through its forewings and hind wings. The white stripe is actually made up of many individual, somewhat rectangular-shaped spots, all in a meandering line. The hind wings also have small orange and blue spots, with additional blue spots along the outer edge of the wings.

The white admiral is a butterfly of wooded areas and forest edges, and they are often seen resting in sunny forest clearings. These butterflies differ from many other butterfly species in that they usually do not feed on flower nectar or pollen. Instead, they get the food and nutrients they need from animal dung (yuck). Scat from mammals like raccoons, bears and deer attract white admirals. When they can’t find fresh animal dung, they will settle for rotting fruit as an acceptable alternative.

Believe it or not, the white stripe against the black background on this butterfly is no accident. White admirals have evolved to use this stripe as camouflage to help them hide from predators. The white stripe resembles dappled sunlight hitting the forest floor, so a white admiral resting or feeding on the forest floor would be pretty well-hidden if the sunlight was illuminating the leaf litter around it.

White admirals are easy for people to identify because there are no other butterflies in their region that look like them. They are very common in Canada and northern states like Minnesota, Wisconsin, Michigan and New York, just to name a few. They are related to the Red-Spotted Purple butterfly, but that species lacks the bright white stripe and they live south of the white admiral’s range.

Surprisingly, adult white admirals only live for a week or two before finding a mate and dying. So next summer if you make a trip “up north”, keep an eye out for the beautiful white admiral butterfly during its short life cycle!

Have you had a great out experience? Join Global Outdoors and write a review to tell everyone about it! We’re building the home for trusted reviews of outdoor experiences, outfitters, and guides.