Red Admirals

Relatively shortly after getting my 1st pictures of the season of early-emerging Mourning Cloak butterflies I got pictures of a prime time butterfly commonly seen in warmer months: a pair of Red Admirals. 

Seeing this butterfly in April seems a little unusual. My understanding is that although they can hibernate in warmer parts of the country, they're not supposed to be able to do it in New Jersey where the winters are considered too cold for them. I guess I'm left with 2 theories:

  • Maybe they can hibernate fairly close to New Jersey (Delaware/Maryland/Virginia?) and simply migrated north from there earlier than they usually do.
  • Our winters "ain't what they used to be"; is it possible there's a population of them that's now able to hibernate through our winters?
While the former theory seems more plausible, as the climate changes there will obviously be changes to our environment. And heavily mobile species like birds and butterflies are better positioned than most to adjust to those changes. (Things like trees are on the other end of the spectrum.)

April 21, 2023 at Duke Farms
Photo 272675424, (c) jpviolette, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC)

April 21, 2023 at Duke Farms
Photo 272675791, (c) jpviolette, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC)


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