Caterpillars are cool creatures. They hatch from tiny eggs and usually grow through multiple stages, or instars, before going through the amazing process of metamorphosis and turning into a beautiful butterfly or moth.
All tagged Butterfly
Wildlife Watching Wednesday: The Tiny Summer Azure Butterfly
There are lots of beautiful butterflies flying around in North America – big ones, small ones, colorful ones – but one of the smallest is the Summer Azure butterfly. This beautiful, tiny butterfly has a wingspan of only about an inch and a half, and it flies very quickly and erratically through the countryside.
Wildlife Watching Wednesday: The Silver-Spotted Skipper Butterfly
When it comes to butterflies that are fast “on-the-wing”, skippers are near always near the top of the list. These speedsters tend to fly in an erratic, darting motion that can really make a person dizzy if you try to follow them.
Wildlife Watching Wednesday: The Stunning Comma Butterfly
Many butterflies are beautiful, but some are truly breath-taking. For me, the Comma butterfly is one of those stunningly beautiful, breath-taking butterflies.
Wildlife Watching Wednesday: The Beautiful White Admiral Butterfly
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.
Wildlife Watching Wednesday: Planting to Attract Butterflies
Summer will soon come to an end, and one of the things I will miss is the butterfly garden in our back yard. It’s a small garden planted around a trellis and garden bench, and it attracts beautiful butterflies of all kinds from April through the end of September.
Wildlife Watching Wednesday: The Beautiful Fritillary Butterfly
Most butterflies are beautiful – but the various species of fritillary butterflies really take it to the next level. Many of them are dazzling! There are 14 species of greater fritillaries and 16 species of lesser fritillaries.
Wildlife Watching Wednesday: The Tiger Swallowtail Butterfly
If you’ve seen a large yellow butterfly in your yard or garden this summer, chances are good that it was a tiger swallowtail butterfly. Tiger swallowtails are one of the easiest butterflies to identify in the eastern United States since they are bright yellow with very distinct black “tiger stripes” on their forewings.
Wildlife Watching Wednesday: Beautiful Pipevine Swallowtail Butterflies
Most people agree that the vast majority of butterfly species in North America are beautiful to look at, but one of my favorites is the very attractive Pipevine Swallowtail. They are jet black overall, and the hind wings of the males are marked with a spectacular blue iridescence.
Wildlife Watching Wednesday: Polyphemus Moths Have Big Eyes
Butterflies are popular visitors to summertime flower gardens, but moths visit, too. One of the largest and most beautiful moths in the United States is the very impressive Polyphemus moth. These large silk moths are seldom seen by most people because they typically fly only at night
Wildlife Watching Wednesday: The Poisonous Monarch Butterfly Caterpillar
Summer is gone, and our friends the monarch butterflies are also gone. They have departed the eastern half of the United States on their annual southern migration, down to their wintering grounds in Mexico. As recently as September they could still be seen visiting the last of our summer flowers.
Wildlife Watching Wednesday: The Red-Spotted Purple Butterfly
Just about everyone with a flower garden welcomes the arrival of those colorful visitors we call butterflies. They come to visit the brightly colored flowers, and we are glad to see them. Although there is a wide variety of beautiful butterflies native to the eastern United States, one of the most stunning and attractive species is the red-spotted purple.