Butterflies during winter!

So most people think butterflies are not seen during the winter. Well if you live in the northern part of the US you might not see any butterflies until spring. Here in the Southeastern US we have warm spells and the butterflies do come out.

The some of the Bush-footed Butterflies from the family Nymphalidae are a good bet to see during the winter. Below are some of the possibilities:

American Snout, Libytheana carinenta

The above American Snout is on a wild mustard which can be found blooming late into the fall or early winter season. Snouts migrate by the 10s of thousands in Texas in the fall.

Question Mark, Polygonia interrogationis

Question Marks can be confused with the closely related Eastern Comma, the above photo shows some field marks to look for. They like sap and rotten fruit.

Eastern Comma, Polygonia comma

Eastern Commas act pretty much like the Question Mark but are slightly smaller and tend to have the shorter tails on the wings. If your not sure which is which you can always call it an anglewing species.

Mourning Cloak,Nymphalis antiopa

Mourning Cloaks prefer colder weather. They can live 10 months, in fact they out live the last generation of Monarchs by a full 4 months! Sun lit woodland trails and dirt roads are good places to see these during warm spells in winter. Warm spells here are days that reach into the 60s at least.

American Lady, Vanessa virginiensis

American Ladies are more of an eastern US butterfly the Painted Lady is found all over the US. The eye-spots pointed out above show how to tell them apart. I saw one of these on Friday when it was 52 degrees outside. They might survive a mild winter and be seen on a warm winter day if you are lucky.

Red Admiral, Vanessa atalanta

Red Admirals are very speedy fliers, if you watch carefully you can see the orange bands as it goes by.Many a year this butterfly has been the first of the year butterfly for me. I do recall it was the first butterfly I saw in the 21th century!

One last thing butterflies seen in the winter do not nectar on flowers because there usually are none. They can be see on dandelions so don't weed all of them out!