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tweetypye

Butterflies in my garden 7-29-08

tweetypye
15 years ago

These were taken around my garden yesterday.

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Not real certain about the identiy of this one.

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Another I'm unsure of the identity on.

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This one was high up in a tree and isn't a really good photo.

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Hope you enjoyed my photos.

Jan

Comments (4)

  • gcertain
    15 years ago

    Jan,
    It's nice to see the beautiful Alabama butterflies. I miss them. Nice job on the IDs, too. At first, I thought that both of your duskywings were Horace's Duskywing, Erynnis horatius, but now I believe you are right about the first one being Wild Indigo Duskywing, Erynnis baptisiae. In fact, I think both are Wild Indigo Duskywing. I'm going to go back through my pics and see if I have some Wild Indigos misidentified as Horace's.

    The Audubon Field Guide is a great book, and I used mine for years until I gave it away to a kid last spring. But its utility for identifying butterflies is limited because it usually provides only one picture per species and a lot of species look very much alike. Until my friends at GW set me straight, I was convinced my Silver Spotted Skippers were Aguna Skippers, based on the picture and description in Audubon's. I've started using the websites, Butterflies and Moths of North America, North American Butterfly Association and Butterflies of America. These sites usually have more than one picture of a given species, often dorsal and ventral views and both sexes.

    It doesn't get any easier, either. I've spent the last four hours trying to identify a couple of butterflies I saw this afternoon in southern Mexico, and I am not at all confident that I have them right.
    geni

  • tweetypye
    Original Author
    15 years ago

    Hi Geni, I did use the first website you listed to try an ID my butterflies and now that you've mentioned it...those two could very well be the same species. One photo was taken in the shade and one in the sun, maybe accounting for the difference in color. I hadn't thought about that before.
    Thanks for setting me straight. :)
    Guess I must have been tired cause I didn't even label the last two as Tiger Swallowtails, but then everyone just about knows them, right?

    You are so lucky to get to travel to Mexico and see all the butterflies there as well as Alabama's. I'll bet you see some really nice ones down there each year. I enjoy your threads on your butterfly gardens in Mexico. thanks for looking and for your helpful reply.
    Jan

  • butterflymomok
    15 years ago

    Jan,

    I'm thinking that your Duskywings are Horace's. My reason is the white spot that is near the end of the FW cell. This spot is inside the row of 4 spots toward the end of the wing. However, a quote from our local BF guide says, "The duskywings are one of the most difficult groups of butterflies to distinguish." Your first picture looks like a female; and your second, like a male.

    Our local Lep society recommends Kaufman's Field Guide to Butterflies of North America and Butterflies through Binoculars The East. I have Audubon, and these two books. I prefer the Butterflies through Binoculars as the photos are more like what you would encounter out in the field. Kaufman's is good as it gives pictures of both male and female. Some species differ a lot.

    Your two photos of the Silver Spotted Skippers are easy to ID because of the central spot on the hind wings.

    BTW, I enjoy all your BF photos.

    Sandy

    For ID purposes, you would probably get more response from posting on the discussion side.

  • tweetypye
    Original Author
    15 years ago

    Thanks Sandy...I looked up the Horace and I believe you're correct...it's so hard to ID lots of the smaller species. There are so many that are similar. No matter, I love to photograph them and hopefully, now that I've found this forum, I'll learn a lots more about them.
    Jan