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If you don't find an answer to your question, click here to ask Tom. |
Q: Every evening at around 7 p.m., two silver-dollar sized orange-and-brown butterflies come to our deck. They land on the railing, and as quickly as they came, they fly up and do what looks like a choreographed ballet, spinning circles around one another in the air, before returning to the railing. They'll do this for upwards of an hour before disappearing. This goes on with the same two butterflies for weeks on end, pretty much throughout the summer. Can you tell me anything about this phenomenon? It seems to indicate some form of higher intelligence that contradicts the seeming aimlessless that butterflies tend to display as they flutter by. - David Shotlander, Beaconsfield, Quebec, Canada 7/7/2010
A: David,
The butterflies you are describing are a species of angle wings or tortoiseshells. They may be commas, question marks, or Compton's tortoiseshells. Like many butterfly species, they are very territorial and are probably males attempting to defend a territory they've established on your deck. There must be a host tree nearby -- a hackberry, an elm, or possibly a birch. The butterflies will continue to defend that territory, waiting for a female to emerge. Then they will court her and mate with her following more aerial acrobatics. If you have a field guide, look up these species and their host plants to see if we are correct.
Q: yesterday, on the shore just where boaters launch and pick up their boats, I found a pile of dead eastern tiger swallowtail butterflies. There were others fluttering around and seemed to be landing on that spot and maybe drinking something on the ground. I moved the dead butterflies and put gravel on the spot but the others seemed to keep going back to that spot. I am wondering what that could be on the ground attracting and killing the butterflies. - Cathy McNaughton, Lansdowne Ontario 7/6/2010
A: Butterflies often gather at wet spots along streams and puddles to gather the moisture, nutrients, and minerals they need. Often they congregate in large numbers. This phenomenon is called puddling and is predominantly a male behavior. Butterflies usually only pick up needed trace elements and nutrients and would rarely pick up a deadly chemical or toxin. Most likely, the butterflies you saw were walked on or run over by a vehicle. Other males would be drawn to the area by smell and would also be attracted by the colors and patterns of the dead butterflies. I have never seen butterflies in one spot that have died as a result of ingesting a toxic substance.
Q: Have lots of passiflora suberosa vines in sunny and shady locations and lots of nectar sources. Summer 2008 had loads of Zebra Heliconians and their larvae. Haven't seen any since then (over a year now). What could have happened? I don't use pesticides. - Mary S., Pompano Beach FLA 12/11/2009
A: Mary:
That's a good question. I have the same thing occurring in my yard as do many people on this side of the state. As you may know, Zebras are long-lived butterflies, but once they die, new butterflies don't show up for several weeks. I had Zebras flying here early last month, and I watched them laying eggs on my corkystemmed passion vine, but as of now I can find no caterpillars. We have a big problem here with bull ants (a predaceous ant) that travels the plants and vines searching for eggs and caterpillars to eat. Cuban anoles are also a problem here as they eat caterpillars, and we have lots of them. Zebras were pretty common here until hurricane Charley hit in 2004, and then the Zebras disappeared for 2-3 years. They haven't really come back yet. I guess I can't fully answer your question, but only tell you that others have the same problem. Hopefully, your butterflies will eventually return. If they were eliminated from your garden for some reason, they may take a little time to recover as Zebras are not very agressive pioneers. If you can find some caterpillars at a nature center nearby, you could try putting a few out and, hopefully, get them started again.
Q: I found a black with red circles near the outer wing and white markings across the outside edge of the wings. Like an Admiral but with red instead of white and the Admiral had 12 white markings mine had 6-8 circles in red on each wing. - Patricia Juliano, Johnstown Ohio 11/19/2009
A: Patricia, it sounds like you saw a red-spotted purple. I'm not sure if the red spots you are referring to are on the underside of the wing or the topside. At any rate, you are in an area that occasionally produces hybrids of the white admiral and the red-spotted purple. When the two subspecies hybridize, there can be a considerable difference in the amount of white on the wings. Look at both butterflies. Most books show the intergrade between the two subspecies. I am using Brock and Kaufman, but others show it, too. Let me know if you still don't find it, but I think that's what you saw.
Tom
Q: Iwould like to attract swallowtail butterflies to my yard. I would also like to have them lay their eggs here. What do I need to do this? Can I order eggs or catepillars anywhere? - Nancy Olson, Medford, Oregon 97501 11/3/2009
A: Nancy, you have 3 swallowtails native to your area in southwestern Oregon. They are the Anise, the Western Tiger and the Pale swallowtail. The easiest one for you to attract is the Anise Swallowtail. To attract butterflies of any kind, you need to plant both nectar plants for the adults and caterpillar host plants for them to lay eggs on. Plant flowers native to your area to attract the butterflies for nectar, and then plant dill, fennel and parsely in your vegetable or herb garden for the caterpillars. In your area the Anise Swallowtail is particularly attracted to sweet fennel (anise). They will also use cultivated citrus. Plant plenty because they can overwhelm a couple of plants. The butterflies will find the plants on their own, but if you have friends who have caterpillars on their plants you can bring a few home with you. As for the other two swallowtails, they are tree feeders, so you need to have cottonwood, ash, willow, alder, or aspen nearby. You can also plant one of these in your yard to attract the Western Tiger Swallowtail. The Pale Swallowtail uses buckthorn, coffeeberry, alder, wild plum and a few others. You might Google these butterflies and read about their requirements, but you shouldn't have to buy them. They will come to your yard if the correct plants are present. Good Luck.
 Q: I saw a butterfly, just once, in my garden, either on my lavendar or sage, and I have looked high and low and cannot identify it. It was huge, maybe 4 inches tall by 3+ inches wide at the bottom. It was almost rectangular in shape! Black and white, very regular top-to-bottom stripes. Maybe 5 or 7? It had long thin rectangular swallow tail kind of extensions, black I think. There were no spaces above where you could look down on the body you had to look underneath to see his body, which I think was light-colored. It was like a kite! I was amazed. Any ideas? - Donna Stokes, Crewe, VA 8/24/2009
A: Donna: Sounds like you saw a Zebra Swallowtail. There are 2 broods of these, a spring brood and a summer brood, which flies in July and August. The summer butterflies are the largest and have longer tails than the spring brood. This butterfly is rare around gardens as it doesn't stray far from it host plant. You probably saw a male that was searching for a female. The Zebra Swallowtail uses paw paw (Asimina spp.) as its host. Paw paw grows along wooded streams in lowland areas, but may also occur in the mountains in depressed wet areas. There is probably some paw paw near where you live. I'm going to attempt to attach a photo here. If it doesn't work, just Google images of the Zebra Swallowtail and let me know if that is not what you saw.
 Q: While working in my yard last evening, this beautiful butterfly lit on the tree that I was working underneath. It was not in the least bothered by my camera, or my presence, and allowed me to take as many pictures as I deemed necessary. Can you please identify this beautiful creature for me? - Jane Dorsett, Houston, Texas 6/11/2009
A: You got some nice photos. The butterfly is a male Eastern Tiger Swallowtail. I know it's a male because of the lack of blue on the hindwing. If you Google it you will see the difference between the male and female. Tiger Swallowtails range almost to central Texas, so you would be at the western edge. As a caterpillar it feeds on the leaves of various trees, such as cottonwood, yellow poplar, sweet bay, cherry, and others.
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