Strays from the South: Sisters and Sickle-wings, Oh My!

Butterflies are on the move! 

I was planning to go butterflying with Anthony yesterday afternoon, but had some other stuff come up and wasn't able to go after all.  He called presently with the news that he had found what he thought was a White Admiral. That would be really remarkable here, so I immediately hopped in the truck and hurried the two miles to where he was. When I saw the butterfly I knew it was not a White Admiral, but some sort of "sister" (Adelpha sp)! I didn't know what species, but no sisters are expected here. Luckily it was very tame and allowed us to get some great photos, confirming it as an Arizona Sister, apparently only the sixth record for Kansas! (per Butterflies and Moths of North America Online, BAMONA for short)

Arizona and California Sisters  are very similar. We determined this was an Arizona because of the pale edging all along the back of the white stripe on the hindwing as well as the single orange bar near the base of the wing. A California Sister would have an incomplete pale edge and double orange bars near the wing base. BAMONA staff verified our identification.

This is definitely one of the most beautiful butterflies I've seen. With a 3-5 inch wingspan, it was an impressive sight as it glided slowly around my head, with an occasional flap thrown in now and then.

Anthony and I had also done a little butterflying together after church earlier in the afternoon. Not far away, we found a Red-banded Hairstreak, a species we definitely did not expect here, although isn't nearly as rare as the sister.

Red-banded Hairstreak

A couple of weeks ago, Anthony photographed a butterfly he couldn't identify. When he showed me the photo I recognized it as a Sickle-winged Skipper, which I knew would be really rare here. (I honestly didn't even know if they'd been seen in Kansas before.)

Great pic courtesy of Anthony Miller

I checked the range map on Butterflies and Moths of North America and it appears that it is the third state record! Unfortunately it was a one day wonder, so no one else got to see it.

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Another butterfly of interest I've seen lately is this Southern Dogface, a really striking sulphur I'd never seen well before.

I didn't remember they had such stubby antenna.

 They really get flashy in flight, with their bold black and yellow pattern.

If you're thinking about getting into butterflies, now would be a great time to start! As I've mentioned previously, Butterflies of Oklahoma, Kansas, and North Texas is a great reference for learning the butterflies of this area.  For more advanced butterfliers, check out the Kauffman Field Guide to Butterflies of North America. I'll end with a shameless plug. If you want to see more of our butterfly (and bird and mammal) photos you can check out our Flickr photostreams. Mine here, and Bryant and Andrew's here.

Joseph

Leps of Late

With migration over, we birders are now allowed to pay attention to other things besides birds, in our case, butterflies. There is quite a good selection here in Kansas, with day lists often topping 20-30 species (and even 40, if you're really lucky) in late summer. The best one-day total I've tallied this year is only 26 species, but I've also managed to find a few lifers, bringing my Kansas life list up to an even 70 species.

I found this Little Wood Satyr (a lifer) near our farm a few days ago. This had been somewhat of a nemesis butterfly for me, so I was glad to finally catch up with one.

American Snouts, with their unique labial palps (think nose), are around again.

 Summer Azures are back, fluttering around the Rough-leaved Dogwood clumps.

Checkered Whites are one of the most common butterflies around right now. Its caterpillars (along with those of the Cabbage Whites) are the ones that destroy your cabbage and broccoli plants.

A Clouded Sulphur nectaring on a thistle.

This Hackberry Emperor was feeding on rotting cherries a few mornings ago.

I found this Funereal Duskywing (a lifer) as well as the Gray Copper below while swathing hay earlier this week.

And finally, a Delaware Skipper, one of our most common skippers.

If you are interested in getting into butterflies a good guide to start with is Butterflies of Oklahoma, Kansas, and North Texas. Although it only has 100 of the most common species in the covered area, it covers pretty much everything you'll be able to identify.

Joseph