northeast-flora-and-fauna

Last spring I met a couple hairstreaks, a Red-banded Hairstreak and a Banded Hairstreak . Or at least I think it's a Banded Hairstreak; the tricky Hickory Hairstreak is notoriously similar. A lot depends on how long you consider that bluish area under the orange spot to be, apparently [1]. The hairstreaks are named for a characteristic that isn't apparent given the precision of my pictures. In most species, the tail (really the end of the abdomen) has small hairs present [2]. Despite the Banded Hairstreak and the Red-banded Hairstreak having similar names, they're in different genera. They're certainly related, but both have closer relatives than each other. Though small, most hairstreaks have a clean/crisp look. Once you see a few of them, you'll probably get a hairstreak vibe when you see the next 1. I've previously shown you other hairstreaks: Gray Hairstreak and Juniper Hairstreak . Red-banded Hairstreak June 15, 2023 at Sourland Mountain Preserve Photo ...

Here's a butterfly I had only photographed once before, the Juniper Hairstreak . (I do see their (appropriately named) Red-banded Hairstreak cousins fairly regularly.) I was pretty sure I had a Juniper Hairstreak when I saw the green on it; there's only one other green hairstreak in NJ, and that one is usually seen in the southern part of the state. I wondered if I processed this picture incorrectly when I saw pictures of much greener Juniper Hairstreaks elsewhere on the web, but it does sound like there are color variations , and tend to get browner with age . (If this one had been a little older, I might not have recognized it as a JH.) I take pictures in "raw mode", then use software to try and get the best image before producing the pictures you see. In theory this gives me more ability to correct lighting, centering, and zoom limitations in the original photo, but I could also change an image to look much different than what I actually saw. It sounds like the Ea...

Here's a Red-banded Hairstreak I met in late May. The hairstreaks are a group of butterflies with a crisp/clean appearance, though they're not flamboyantly colored. We have a number of hairstreaks in NJ, though none of the others has such a prominent red/orange band like this little guy. Although NJ isn't a particularly big state, this butterfly demonstrates that small differences can matter a lot. It's believed that these butterflies overwinter as caterpillars in southern NJ counties but don't in northern NJ counties. (I'm not sure if the northern ones perform a mini-migration to southern NJ or are simply killed off in the winter.) May 28, 2021 at Duke Farms Photo 133214304, (c) jpviolette, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC)

 Here's a Red-banded Hairstreak . No other butterfly in our area has - wait for it - this particular red band . The hairstreak butterflies have a clean, crisp overall appearance. Most hairstreaks are brown or gray, though some are primarily green. The only other hairstreak that I spot a lot is the Gray Hairstreak. Their are other butterflies in the hairstreak subfamily, many named "elfins". Though related, the elfins don't generally give off the same crisp ambiance. Like the rest of the moths/butterflies, Red-banded Hairstreaks basically only eat as kids (caterpillars); apparently decaying sumac leaves are something they consider a delicacy. As adults they drink heavily instead; nectar is a popular choice. August 15, 2020 at Negri Nepote Native Grassland Preserve