Pieris rapae nectaring on Yellow hawkweed along the Nichol Road trail at Raccoon Creek State Park’s western boundary.

Why are so many of our posts photographed at this Pennsylvania state Park? It produces results, with an abundance of habitats, moisture, vast open fields all enabling me to identify more than 60 species within the park boundaries.

Our cabbage white has 2 black spots in the middle of each forewing, so we know he is a male. Females have a single black spot there.

Easily adapts to diverse environments, making this species a world traveler . . . encountered far and wide.

Many years ago we knew it as the European cabbage white. Only recently have I erased that first word from my lexicon.

One of the first butterflies to  be seen in very early Spring and one of the last to be spotted in late Fall.

Jeffrey