Every summer is different at the Falls and this one is starting to feel overgrown with vines. Walking through the vegetation, it doesn’t take long for one’s clothes to stick to your skin. It’s been very hot here this summer and the high humidity raises the issue to another level. Although I have never been to the tropics, I begin to feel like I know what it might be like. The air is filled with cicada song and there are many insects of all types to be found.
Overall, this has been a good year for butterflies. I have enjoyed watching, learning, and photographing them as part of my Falls project. At some point, I will probably post all my better images in my Pages section. For now, I will release a few at a time as I come across different species. Here are three new images that I made on this day .
I have seen more Buckeye butterflies this year than I have any other previous year. Last week they were positively everywhere around the Falls of the Ohio. This is a common species, but very pretty with its eyespots. Apparently among professional lepidopterists, there is some disagreement about how to classify this butterfly because there are variations in its scientific name. Some books list the Buckeye as Junonia coenia while other guides favor Precis coenia. I haven’t read a good argument why one name is preferred over another! I’ll wager the butterfly doesn’t care what we call it.
On this outing, I came across just one of these butterflies. As they go it is rather nondescript and small. Often the best way to identify a species is to check the markings on the underside. With this butterfly I had just this single image. After cross referencing a couple of butterfly guides, I’m fairly confident that this is the Variegated Fritillary, Euptoieta claudia. With the Fritillaria, you need to look closely because there are many related butterflies. Now the next species was even harder to identify!
I am not at all certain on this one, but my educated guess is this is the Scalloped Sootywing, Staphylus hayhurstii. It’s fairly small and nondescript. The very tiny white dots on its fore wing are a clue along with its fringy wing margins. The geographic range looks good because this sootywing is found this far north. I also note that one guide said this species prefers moist areas near willow and cottonwood groves and that certainly is here. The sootywing is a member of the skipper clan which are a group of interesting butterflies that share characteristics with moths.
For me, learning what other organisms share this space is a celebration of life. Even the rather dull looking sootywing is spectacular by virtue of its existence which took millions of years of development to reach this point in time we could share. On this trip, I enjoyed just watching what types of insects were feeding off the loosestrife flowers. It was easy to forget oneself in the collective buzzing and busy activity around this plant.
Artist at Exit 0 Riverblog 
I can almost feel the humidity coming from that post! Amazing butterflies (and astonishing knowledge of them!) It just goes to show what nature can produce – left to its own devices. Styrofoam man looks like he’s doing a Highland fling in that tropical jungle Al 😀
Thanks Lynda, it seems that we no longer have “average” years anymore. My experiences with this single location have shown me a planet in transition.
I think you do a fantastic job of photographing butterflies. I especially like the last landscape photo with the dead wood pointing the way to the foliage. Stay cool!
My neighbor across the street is a biologist for the state, and we were just talking about how it was a great year for butterflies – you obviously think the same, too. We’re over run with swallowtails, and sulfurs, and those little blue-gray ones (etc. etc).
Yes, it seems to have been a good butterfly year. I’ve seen many more than I was able to photograph. I would love a snapshot of a Zebra Swallowtail, but they almost never seem to come to rest…always on the move.