Tag Archives: Pennsylvania

Tory Peterson and James Fisher Instruct Jeffrey Zablow

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Filed under Flowers Loved by Butterflies, Native Plants and Flowers, Raccoon Creek State Park, PA, Wildflowers

Teasel Wildflowers at Raccoon Creek State Park

I’m now in my 3rd read of Wild America by Roger Tory Peterson and James Fisher (Houghton Mifflin, 1955) and on page 53, they slightly unnerved me. Peterson, the great birder who is so revered by many I know, is touring the Potomac River in Washington, D.C. with James Fischer, this Fisher’s first visit to North America.

Peterson notes that “Hundreds of species-no one knows exactly how many, because new ones are constantly being noticed-are now part of the American flora. The list is long . . .dandelion, black mustard, spearmint, peppermint, forget-me-not, mullein, field daisy . . . yarrow, teasel, tansy, and many, many others.” Teasel? My beloved teasel, that so enabled me back in Pennsylvania when I visited Raccoon Creek State Park as many as 200 times? Enabled me because when it was in bloom, as it is here in this image, it attracted butterflies, moths and Ruby-throateds, and they loved its nectar so much, that I was able to score many, many pleasing images.

So teasel is here to stay, but, it ranks as an alien species. No Leps use it as a host plant. What would Doug Tallamy say of that?

Jeff

What Do You Most Want Too See?

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Filed under Malachite, National Butterfly Center, Mission, TX

Malachite butterfly (4) photographed by Jeff Zablow at the National Butterfly Center, Mission, TX

This was the last week of 2018. We flew to San Antonio and drove the rental car to McAllen, Texas. Why? We went to find and photograph rare butterflies of the Lower Rio Grande Valley. Texas. Butterflies that you would never see in Pennsylvania, Georgia, Illinois, Nevada, Oregon, Montana, Ohio or Virginia.

This was at the National Butterfly Center, in Mission Texas near the border wall. Bingo! This Malachite butterfly, that Erato Heliconian (!!!), the Red Rim butterfly, Mexican Bluewing, Tropical Leafwing, the list of new and rare to Very Rare was long, and exciting. So much new, so little same old, same old.

We recently raised the question, do you think that we should travel long and far, or should we avoid those airport terminals, crowds, TSA looking at me (I served) as if I was a potential I don’t know what? The rental car that I treat better than my own (you let me use your car, I treat it like gold) and those many drives through places unfamiliar.

Comes now this question. What would you rather see, hard to score images of butterflies you’ve never seen before, even if those images are sometimes less than ideal OR photos of butterflies that you may have seen before, those well east of the Mississippi River, but photos that capture very fresh, very beautiful individuals?

Than comes the followup questions? Are you happy to see images of butterflies in the HolyLand? I’ve gone to Israel almost every year since 2008. Sometimes I’ve posted an image of a HolyLand butterfly that is really hard to get, only to find tepid feedback from y’all.

I sure hope you read this, and hope that you share.

Jeff

Identifying Male Monarch Butterflies

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Filed under Monarch, Raccoon Creek State Park, PA
Monarch butterfly photographed by Jeff Zablow at Raccoon Creek State Park

Monarch butterfly photographed by Jeff Zablow at Raccoon Creek State Park

You will always be asked, “How can you tell whether a Monarch Butterfly is a male or a female?” It is asked each and every time I show photographs before groups of adults and children.

It’s August 17th and this butterfly is resting on a Common milkweed leaf (Asclepias Syriaca) at Raccoon Creek State Park in Hookstown,  Pennsylvania.

This powerfully built butterfly demonstrates how to discern the sex of male and female Monarchs. Do you see that black patch on his left hindwing vein? Only males have these scent glands, one on each hindwing. If you see a Monarch and it doesn’t have two black scent patches, it’s a female. If it does have a black scent patch on each hindwing, it’s a male.

2013 has got to be a bummer for male Monarchs. With so few females about in the 48 continental U.S. states, males have more than the usual patrolling to do to find a mate, and begin the Monarch butterfly life cycle all over again. No time to waste!

Jeff

Related articles

Maryland’s Extra Large Sulphur Yellow Butterfly

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Filed under Blackwater National Wildlife Refuge, MD, Sulphur

Cloudless Sulphur Butterfly at Blackwater National Wildlife Refuge, MD

One of the most focused nectarers, this Clouldless Sulphur is at work at Blackwater National Wildlife Refuge in Cambridge, Maryland.

She is large for a Sulphur butterfly and it is a bit startling to see this fly in with her not exactly straight path.

Phoebis sennae is said to range well into Pennsylvania. ? I have seen maybe 2, and fleetingly, in these last 12 years of field work in western Pennsylvania.

At Blackwater they are regularly seen. What a treat!

Jeffrey

The Black Line Curving along its Hindwing Identifies our Subject as a Viceroy, not a Monarch Butterfly

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Filed under Leroy Percy State Park, MS, Viceroy

Viceroy Butterfly at Leroy Percy State Park, MS

Viceroys are butterflies that frustrate. They appear to be a species that should be easy to score an excellent image of . . . but look some people, never seem to photograph well.

This Basilarchia archippus was sipping mineral-rich moisture in Leroy Percy State Park, not too far from Greenville, Mississippi.

Isn’t it tempting to confuse it with another very well-known butterfly, the Monarch? But the black line curving along the hindwing identifies our subject as a Vicery.

The southern Viceroys are noticeably more colorful than those found back home in Pennsylvania.

Southern Viceroys were also more approachable and less apt to exasperate the pursuing photographer.

A wetland butterfly, always found in proximity of water.

Jeffrey