Butterfly Day

Common Ringlets enjoying a dandelion, Charles River Peninsula, Needham, MA

A sunny day, at least for a little while this morning. A good day to take a look at the butterflies beginning to emerge (or migrate in) at the Charles River Peninsula. The common ringlets are the most abundant right now.

Here's some others that can be seen these days.

 Monarch?

No, Viceroy (black stripe on bottom wing is the clincher, though it is obscured by a blade of grass in the photo above.) I recently read that the old children's nature lore story about the viceroy is wrong. We used to think it was a tasty butterfly that disguised itself as a (not tasty) monarch. Now, it seems, the viceroy itself is not very tasty.

 Here's a  red admiral.

You can get a good look at its face if you click on the photo above.

And finally, a question mark? I think the wing mark is more question mark-ish than comma-ish.

In other CRP news. Little new activity on the nesting box front, though I didn't open most of the swallow boxes for fear their hard-won feather collections would blow away in the wind. Also, red-winged blackbird chicks are beginning to fledge. Some fledge right into the meadow, where they sit and cheep. Hyper-sensitive blackbird parents abundant.