northeast-flora-and-fauna

If you're an ectotherm like these Red Admirals (or an Northern Red-bellied Cooter ), nothing warms your heart like sunlight. Be careful about lumping all lepidopterans into the ectothermic camp though; some winter moths are actually considered endothermic . Back when I was a kid we were taught that all birds and mammals were endotherms and every other animal was some sort of ectotherm, which is a mostly-but-not-entirely true simplification. Red Admirals though do fall squarely into the ectotherm camp; they're not someone you'll meet in the winter. Note that these butterflies look fairly different, with the 2nd picture having faded coloring and somewhat ragged hind wings. It sounds like Red Admirals can brumate as adults, so it's possible that the 1 in the 2nd picture survived the winter while the 1 in the 1st picture may have emerged from its chrysalis within the last month. Remember, they got the "admiral" part of their name because they were admired , not...

If you're an ectotherm  (AKA cold blooded [1]) like this Northern Red-bellied Cooter , nothing warms your heart like the sun. By late May (I'd imagine) all turtles are out of brumation , but temperatures may still be cool, inspiring turtles to warm themselves in the sun quite often [2]. I'm thinking this individual is a female since the plastron looks way more orange than pink . (Yes, in this case pink is for boys.) May 25, 2023 at Duke Farms Photo 292818095, (c) jpviolette, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC) [1] It sounds like actual scientists don't use warm blooded and cold blooded since there are also mesotherms that regulate body temperature a little bit between ectotherms and endotherms . [2] Unfortunately, as eager as they might be to sun themselves, they're still more than willing to dive in the water if you attempt to take their picture.