Red Admiral

For at least 3 weeks now I've been seeing Red Admirals around. These are butterflies that don't have the long, regular migration cycle of the Monarch butterfly; instead they basically migrate south when their caterpillar host food - nettles - is no longer available as winter sets in. And then in the spring as we get our nettles back, the Red Admirals migrate north to take advantage of the food source.

Don't confuse the Red Admirals with the Red-spotted Admirals; despite the similar name these are 2 different species that don't even look alike. I talked about Red-spotted Admirals here, and talked about Red Admirals here.

These butterflies are fairly common, and if you're in woods and meadows a lot you're likely to run across them. They're considered more human-tolerant than most butterflies. They'll sometimes even land on you, though this is probably about them trying to drink up some sweat than it is raw friendliness.

June 2, 2022 at Duke Farms
Photo 205020962, (c) jpviolette, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC)


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