What's Flying? - Fall Butterflies

The first day of autumn has arrived, though the Florida weather begs to differ. It will be a few weeks before we start seeing any real change from the sticky, soaring temperatures of summer, and butterfly populations are thriving as they have been all summer long. With very high rainfall totals all summer long, butterflies have been abundant in both number and variety. From the list below, you can expect to see most or even all of the Most Common and Other Common Species on pretty much any given day in our gardens this time of year:

Black Swallowtail, Male

5 Most Common:

• Gulf Fritillary
• Zebra Longwing
• Cloudless Sulphur
• Sleepy Orange
• Polydamas Swallowtail

Other Common Species:

• Long Tailed Skipper
• White Peacock
• Fiery Skipper
• Monarch
• Black Swallowtail
• Polydamas Swallowtail
• Blues (Cassius and Ceranus)
• Orange Barred Sulphur
• Spicebush Swallowtail
• Pipevine Swallowtail
• Duskywings
• Tropical Checker Spot
• Barred Yellow
• Great Southern White

Great Southern White, Male

Occasional Spottings:

• Eastern Tiger Swallowtail
• Silver-Spotted Skipper
• Palamedes Swallowtail
• Phaon Crescent
• Giant Swallowtail
• Viceroy
• Sphinx Moths
• Io Moth
• Hummingbird Clearwing Moth

Notes from the Field:

• For the first time in many years, we've continued to see Great Southern Whites in large numbers throughout the entire summer. This may have to do with this year's large amounts of rain, which kept their host plants going long after they usually die back. Their egg-laying activity continued throughout the hottest days on collards in our back garden, and we've raised them consistently in the lab since March.
• Polydamas Swallowtail and Black Swallowtail numbers have also been extremely high, and monarchs continue to abound. Florida monarchs do not migrate, but their numbers may swell a bit in the fall as some migrants make their way into the state rather than journeying to Mexico.