Mourning Cloak Butterfly: Maroon and Blue Shimmer

Mourning Cloak Butterfly   © SB

Mourning Cloak Butterflies are common across Canada, but I never noticed them until this week when two Mourning Cloaks came to my attention.

The first, I saw and took pictures of in Kananaskis, Alberta, when I was getting a mountain break from the prairies; the second — which led to my butterfly's ID — a friend recognized and photographed outside her cabin near Regina, Saskatchewan. (Thanks, Donna!)

Mourning Cloak Butterflies are large, with a wingspan up to eight centimetres. And although they may look black at first glance, in good light, their wings shimmer maroon or purple brown, with iridescent blue spots and a ragged butter-yellow border.

This butterfly's common name refers to, yes, a mourning cloak — a garment apparently worn by someone, somewhere (perhaps in Scandinavia?), during a time of bereavement... (The only example I've so far found online was designed to honour the butterfly — thus raising the question, which came first? The butterfly, or the cloak?)

They appear to be native to North America, and unlike Monarchs, which migrate, Mourning Cloaks hibernate  —  or, as the Manitoba site NatureNorth.com says, "spend the winter in 'cryo-preservation.'"

Where I live, in Regina, Saskatchewan, they are considered common pests. (Who knew?) Mourning Cloaks are the first butterflies to appear in this prairie city in spring, and — in sufficient numbers — the larvae are said to defoliate branches.

(The City of Regina suggests removing the larvae by hand, or leaving them to birds and wasps to devour. Yum... The nearby US state of Montana is perhaps friendlier to Mourning Cloaks, and has designated them its official butterfly.)

Pest or mascot, Mourning Cloaks are unmistakably beautiful. 

What is this? Mourning Cloak Butterfly (Nymphalis antiopa; in the UK, Camberwell Beauty)
Location: Common across Canada, including the prairies; photographed in Kananaskis, Alberta. 
Photo date: September 9, 2012. 

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Sulphur Butterfly on Blue Aster

Butterflies are frequent visitors to a wildflower garden in downtown Regina, Saskatchewan — Skippers, White Admirals, Monarchs — and, as photographed here, little yellow Sulphur butterflies. 

This Sulphur is feeding from the nectar of a blue violet Aster, a flower now starting to bloom. 

Yellow Sulphur Butterfly Feeding on Blue Aster   © SB

What is this? Sulphur Butterfly

Location: Royal Saskatchewan Museum's Native Plant Garden, Regina, Saskatchewan.

Photo date:  July 12, 2012.

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Orange Skipper Butterflies on Purple Flowers

Skipper butterfly feeding on flowers
(Note the long proboscis sipping)  © SB 

Tiny skipper butterflies fed on wildflowers and rested in the grass beside Wascana Creek in Regina last week.

Skippers as a group are easy to identify because their furry bodies are so large in proportion to their wings, at least compared to many other butterflies.

They are also very small — overall, these butterflies are less than an inch long. They were tricky to snap pictures of because they rarely paused long as they skipped from blossom to blossom.

There are many different kinds of skippers, and I'm not really sure what kind sips from our Regina flowers. 

However, the dark rim and markings on their wings look like Delaware Skippers. (Here's their range map, and yes, it includes Saskatchewan.) Perhaps someone who knows will comment here. 

Skipper butterfly on a stalk of grass  © SB

Top view, Skipper butterfly   © SB

What are these?  Skipper butterflies on alfalfa or wild purple vetch. (Perhaps Delaware Skippers.) 

Location: Along Wascana Creek, Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada.

Photo date: July 5 and 6, 2012.  

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Cabbage White Butterfly on Canada Thistle

Cabbage White on Canada Thistle, Regina, SK © SB

The most abundant butterflies in our Regina, SK (Canada) neighbourhood this summer are Cabbage Whites, fluttering through the grass and garden.

Especially the garden. These delicate-looking butterflies love vegetable gardens. As the Government of Canada says of Cabbage Whites on its Canadian Biodiversity website:

"Its bright white colour and fondness for gardens make it one of the butterflies familiar to anyone even mildly interested in nature."

We're not trying to grow cabbages this year — or other Brassicas  — and we're not growing thistles, either. This photograph was taken beside a public path/parkway along Wascana Creek a few days ago.  

Location: Along Wascana Creek, Regina, Saskatchewan. 

Photo Date: August 15, 2011. 

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