July 21, 2013 - Bayfield Insects and a Frog

During our visit to Bayfield, WI, we saw many Tiger Swallowtail butterflies. In northern Wisconsin (and northern Minnesota) these are actually Canadian Tiger Swallowtails. In the southern part of these states you would see Eastern Tiger Swallowtails. The two species look very much alike with the main difference being the width of a black line along the edge of the hind wing. That line is not even visible in this photo.

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This group of Swallowtails is engaging in an activity called puddling. Butterflies gather in a moist area like this and get essential nutrients such as salts and amino acids from the soil.

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Here’s a Twelve-spotted Skimmer; he was defending a tiny pool of water in Cornucopia, WI. You can tell it’s a male because, in addition to the 12 black spots on his wings, he also has 8 white spots. (The female has 12 black spots, but no white spots.) He got into some spirited battles with several other skimmers who were trying to take over his territory. Twelve-spotted Skimmers are found in all of the lower 48 states, the southern edge of Canada, and even into Mexico.

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This is an Arctic Skipper. Skippers are a group within the larger category of butterflies and there are lots of them. You can tell this is a skipper because it has “scoop-like” antenna. The ends of the antenna look like inverted spoons.

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Another skipper I saw in Bayfield was this Hobomok Skipper. Skippers tend to be small; their wingspan is usually around an inch.

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One night in Bayfield, I was checking around the porch light for moths and found this Spring Peeper. It had no trouble crawling up the side of the house. One distinguishing feature of this species is the large X on its back. Only the males can make the distinctive peeping sound. They can be very loud when a group of them starts calling on a calm, spring night.

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