August 25, 2019 - Butterflies

The White Admiral is one of several species of butterflies I saw this summer at our home in northern Minnesota. It has a wingspan of 3 to 3½ inches. It’s easily identified by its all-black wings, ring of white spots that spreads across all four wings, and the red and blue spots on its hind wings.

AdmiralWhiteLimenitisarthemisDunningLakeItascaCounty20190808

This is a smaller butterfly called a Northern Pearly-eye. It has a wingspan of only 2 to 2½ inches. The many “eyes” give this butterfly an aggressive appearance that makes any predator think twice before attacking it. The tiny white spots are the “pearly-eyes” referenced in its name.

PearlyeyeNorthernLetheanthedonDunningLakeItascaCounty20190703

Skippers are a sub-group within the category of butterflies. Skippers have spoon-shaped antenna while other butterflies have club-shaped antenna. The book Butterflies of the North Woods says there are about 3500 species of skippers in the world. Most are in the tropics, but North America has about 230 species. This is a Silver-spotted Skipper.

SkipperSilverspottedEpargyreusclaruswindturbineclearingDunningLakeItascaCounty20190629

The underside of the Silver-spotted Skipper’s wings shows the irregular spot that gives it its name. Most skippers are small. With a wingspan of 1¾ to 2½ inches, this is one of the larger skippers.

SkipperSilverspottedEpargyreusclaruswindturbineclearingDunningLakeItascaCounty20190629

Perhaps you’ve read about the nationwide concern over the decline of Monarch butterflies. We were happy to see several Monarchs visiting our wildflower garden this summer.

ButterflyMonarchDunningLakeItascaCounty20190724

Swamp Milkweed is a favorite host plant for the Monarch caterpillar. In a small patch of this plant near our dock, I saw at least six Monarch caterpillars. We have several patches of Swamp Milkweed around our lake; if each of them has as many caterpillars, we should make a nice contribution to the Monarch population this year.

MonarchcaterpillarDunningLakeItascaCounty20190814