It just seems wrong naming something this beautiful "common".
Common Buckeye (Junonia coenia) from Butterflies and Moths of North America:
Life history: Males perch during the day on low plants or bare ground to watch for females, flying periodically to patrol or to chase other flying insects. Females lay eggs singly on leaf buds or on upperside of host plant leaves. Caterpillars are solitary and eat leaves. Caterpillars and adults overwinter but only in the south.
Range: Resident in the southern United States and north along the coasts to central California and North Carolina; south to Bermuda, Cuba, Isle of Pines, and southern Mexico. Adults from the south's first brood migrate north in late spring and summer to temporarily colonize most of the United States and parts of southern Canada.
(Click the link above for more photos and details. Also, BugGuide.)
13 comments:
I agree! What a stunning creature!
Your camera captured many of the various colors on the Buckeye Marvin. It is a great picture.
It's is very beautiful - reminds me of peacock feathers!
Terrific picture! I love the purple in the wings. I don't think I have ever noticed that in a picture before, so yours is far above par.
I agree. It's very colourful.
You've got some wonderful pictures up on your blog. They're a treat to see.
Yeah, that really IS a stunning creature...
Your "Males perch during the day on low plants or bare ground to watch for females" made me think a bit... I guess all creatures, big or small, have similar motivations...
Nothing common about it!
Why such specific {and beautiful} coloring, I wonder?
Most coloring is to attract same species and etc. I guess. But wonder how come this "basic beige" butterfly, has orange, black, lavender, pale ivory, etc. coloring?
Miss Mari-Nanci
Smilnsigh
Photos-City-Mine
When Twilight Embraces
"Common" only due to their range & frequency. I love that something so beautiful is so "common," myself. Ironically, I haven't seen any of these this year yet. Then again, it's getting too hot to be outside these days...
Lovely photo, btw! The blue eyespots came out wonderfully!
beauty... think i saw a few in southern ontario, long ago
I cannot BELIEVE this photo. The colors are just beyond my comprehension. ...That nature produces something this glorious and we still have wars?...that's a crime, a waste and shame...a sign a of a very ill species (humans). Please forgive my mini rant.
The colors here absolutely breathless. I find this Buckeye more dazzling that the often more frequently photographed butterflies, like monarchs and swallowtails. This guy is like some artist's wildest dream. Like something an uninhibited child would paint.
If I was a bird or other predator the thing I would see first would be the two dots on the fore wings...they literally look like eyes. If you don't focus on the moth's outline...but just let him blend in with the background it becomes an optical illusion. It's wild..again the whole thing of evolution geared toward survival.
This is a real work of art that you have captured...wonderful wonderful job.
Absolutely wonderful!
Beautiful pictures! I love the flannel moth in the last post as well. what a very creative way wo ensure that they are not tasty to other creatures.. talk about a hair ball... lol
Spectacular shot! I think I saw one of these, or a relative, the other day, in a grassy section of the AT. It did not have as many spots though. I really need to get back there and see it again.
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