Tagged With: Fritillary

Speyeria cybele cybele (Great Spangled Fritillary)

Speyeria cybele cybele (Great Spangled Fritillary)

Speyeria cybele cybele (Great Spangled Fritillary)

I drove down to Lake Needwood on the way home today and stopped to take a few pictures. I followed a pair of fritillaries for a while and got a few half decent pictures. I also went after a great blue heron but wasn’t able to get anything worth while there. This is a great spangled fritillary and apparently there are at least 7 subspecies (and depending on who you ask, more than that). I naively assumed they were distinguished by variations in the patterns on their wings but apparently they are identified by distribution. Who knew? This was identified by the good people of BugGuide.net as subspecies S. c. cybele. Note: the red in the background is my car. I tried to get pictures without that but for this one, which turned out the best of the butterfly, it was unavoidable. Oh, well.

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Boloria bellona (Meadow Fritillary)

Boloria bellona (Meadow Fritillary)

Boloria bellona (Meadow Fritillary)

What an absolutely beautiful day it was today. The high was in the 70s and in August, that’s a rare and joyous thing. I worked on the car today, gluing the rear-view mirror back on in one van and replacing the struts that hold open the rear hatch on the other. Cathy and I also did a fair amount of yard work, pulling up weeds and beginning the process of clearing out some of the central bed in the back yard. There were two trees where that bed is, a medium sized red maple and a fairly large silver maple. They’ve been down since the spring of 2013 and as the roots have rotted, a few holes have opened up and need to be filled. The whole bed needs quite a bit of work, to be honest, including digging out some particularly tenacious weeds. I took a break to take pictures of some of the many butterflies that were out today, including this meadow fritillary (Boloria bellona), a pretty medium sized brush-footed butterfly.

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Insects

Danaus plexippus (Monarch) Caterpillar

Danaus plexippus (Monarch) Caterpillar

Murgantia histrionica (Harlequin Bug)

Murgantia histrionica (Harlequin Bug)

Papilio polyxenes asterius (Black Swallowtail)

Papilio polyxenes asterius (Black Swallowtail)

Euptoieta claudia (Variegated Fritillary)

Euptoieta claudia (Variegated Fritillary)

Allograpta obliqua (Common Oblique Syrphid)

Allograpta obliqua (Common Oblique Syrphid)

Diabrotica undecimpunctata (Spotted Cucumber Beetle)

Diabrotica undecimpunctata (Spotted Cucumber Beetle)

I went on a short outing this afternoon to the Agricultural Farm Park today and spent a little time wandering around the Master Gardener’s display garden. Mostly I photographed insects (and a few flowers). It was a pretty productive outing as far as insect photos go.

  • Danaus plexippus (Monarch) Caterpillar
  • Murgantia histrionica (Harlequin Bug)
  • Papilio polyxenes asterius (Black Swallowtail)
  • Euptoieta claudia (Variegated Fritillary)
  • Allograpta obliqua (Common Oblique Syrphid)
  • Diabrotica undecimpunctata (Spotted Cucumber Beetle)

I’m particularly happy with the oblique syrphid fly, as that’s the first one I’ve photographed. The black swallowtail is one we don’t see nearly as often as the eastern tiger swallowtail. I’ve seen harlequin bugs on occasion but not all that often. The same is true of the cucumber beetle.

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Euptoieta claudia (Variegated Fritillary)

Euptoieta claudia (Variegated Fritillary)

Euptoieta claudia (Variegated Fritillary)

I spent the morning at Rocklands Farm today, taking pictures of some wine-making activities as well as quite a few of Greg’s cattle. I helped him separating the cattle into two groups and then herd one group to the upper end of the pasture. I took quite a few photos of ripe grapes, as well, although the anticipated harvest activities was put off so I didn’t get that. As is common, I also took pictures in Janis’ garden and got this pretty nice photo of a variegated fritillary (Euptoieta claudia) on the zinnias. All in all, it was a lovely morning.

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Euptoieta claudia (Variegated Fritillary)

Euptoieta claudia (Variegated Fritillary)

Euptoieta claudia (Variegated Fritillary)

Late this spring we were given a box of dahlia roots by our friend Anna. I planted a bunch of them in what was originally my vegetable garden. That garden transitioned from vegetables to herbs a few years ago and has since been overrun by oregano. I dug out over half of the oregano, which won’t slow it down all that much, to plant the dahlias. We have our first buds and I took a few pictures this afternoon. Then I noticed this variegated fritillary (Euptoieta claudia) in the yard and was able to get one good picture before it flew away.

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