What’s Flying? – January

Winter is here, and this year’s warm weather (today's chill notwithstanding!) is keeping butterflies abundant in the gardens. While diversity has dropped, numbers remain high, and as long as we avoid a killing freeze to our nectar plants, we can expect to see lots of butterflies, including the following species:

• Gulf Fritillary
  
• Monarch
• Long Tailed Skipper
• Fiery Skipper
• Duskywing
• Blues
• Tropical Checker Spot
• Barred Yellow
• Cloudless Sulphur
  
• Orange Barred Sulphur
  
• Sleepy Orange
  
• Zebra Longwing

Notes from the Field:

• After a chilly night, the first butterflies seen as the morning warms up are almost always Gulf Fritillaries and Long-Tailed Skippers. On all but the coldest days, these species are always flying in the gardens.
• Butterflies require a body temperature of about 80 degrees before they can fly, but that doesn’t mean the outside temperature has to be that warm. Butterflies have many ways to warm their bodies on cooler days, including basking in the sun and “shivering”, which allow them to fly when temperatures are as low as 60 degrees – as long as the sun is out. Learn more here.