Category Archives: Butterflies

A Red Admiral Butterfly

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Tuesday, October 10, 2023,

This is a Red Admiral Butterfly that I found at the Lido Beach Passive Nature Area. This is a great preserve that doesn’t get enough praise, but only because it’s basically across the street from Nickerson Beach and Point Lookout. Those two beaches get a good deal of much deserved attention, but the Passive Nature Area has its own charms. Despite its close proximity to both of those beaches, the Passive Nature Area contains very different ecosystems than the basic beach fronts, and as such, it attracts several different species than the beaches. These beautiful little butterflies are an example. JK

JK

Peek-A-Boo!

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Tuesday, August 8, 2023,

This is an Eastern Tiger Swallowtail butterfly that I spied in the gardens at Sweetbriar Nature Center in Smithtown, NY. As some of you know, I am a long-time volunteer there. I do various things for SB. Sometimes, I give talks and tours. Other times, I help with the feeding of animals or, maybe, I check water qualities for the fish or Axolotyl tanks. But, in my spare time, when I’m not playing with Penny, one of our Red Foxes, or a Possum, or one of the countless other animals we have, I will sometimes bring out my camera and take photos. These two pics were taken while I was goofing off.  JK.

JK

Eastern Black Swallowtail Butterfly on a Zinnia Flower

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Sunday, September 25, 2022,

This is a female Eastern Black Swallowtail Butterfly alighting upon a Zinnia flower. Do you know how I know? It is solely because I know several people that are much smarter and more informed than I am. To be quite honest, most of the folks I am acquainted with tend to be much more intelligent than myself. Of course, that’s not a very high bar. 🙂 

Friends of mine were able to identify both the flower and the butterfly for me. Actually, I had correctly guessed that this was an Eastern Black Swallowtail Butterfly, but my friend Jody Gangloff-Kaufmann, who is a scientist at Cornell University, was able to further identify this beautiful critter as female. How cool is that? I told you I knew smart people. 🙂 JK