What’s Flying? - June

Summer is definitely here. Though the daily rains haven’t quite settled in yet, tropical systems have started to bring the moisture we so desperately need. Butterflies are most active now in the mornings and late afternoons, often taking breaks during the hottest part of mid-day. Here’s what to look for in our gardens this month:

5 Most Common:

• Gulf Fritillary
• Zebra Longwing
• Cloudless Sulphur
• White Peacock
• Polydamas Swallowtail

Other Common Species:

• Long Tailed Skipper
• Monarch
• Orange Barred Sulphur
• Spicebush Swallowtail
• Fiery Skipper
• Duskywing
• Blues
• Phaon Crescent
• Tropical Checker Spot
• Barred Yellow
• Giant Swallowtail
• Pipevine Swallowtail

Occasional Spottings:

• Eastern Tiger Swallowtail
• Black Swallowtail
• Silver-Spotted Skipper
• Gray Hairstreak
• Whites

Notes from the Field:

• Spring-flying species like Red Admirals and Common Buckeyes have just about disappeared from the scene at this point. Their host plants don’t grow here in the summer, so they’ll have headed north where they can continue to breed over the next few months.
• Now that the Wild Lime has finished flowering, it’s putting on lots of new growth, and we’re finding plenty of Giant Swallowtail eggs. They’re eating us out of house and home in the lab, but they’re definitely favorites as adults in the Flight Encounter Exhibit.
• In the last few months, our Zebra Longwing population on-site has exploded. The firebush outside our lab door almost always has several flying around it, and we see them just about everywhere else too. This is a species that was always extremely rare here in our gardens, until this year. Very exciting!