Beauty On The Beach

Sunday, November 6, 2011,

This butterfly is called, much to my chagrin, a Common Buckeye. I was hiking around Short Beach Park in Nissequogue a few days back when I came across this critter, or rather, this critter came across me. Well, it crossed my path. It’s a really good flier; there’s not much flutter to this butterfly. At first I thought I was seeing one of those flying grasshopper thingies – that’s how directly it flew – but when it landed I saw it was this really pretty butterfly instead. I was not at all disappointed. I was, however, disappointed when I got home and looked this beauty up in my field guides. I’m thinking I’ve found some exotic species only to find out it’s a Common Buckeye. Common! What is so common about this Buckeye? It dresses like royalty. JK