CVC Butterfly Blitz 2020 – Observation of the week #1
Welcome to our first Observation of the Week (OOTW) post for 2020! It was a wonderful weekend for butterflying, which was reflected in the big jump in observations added to the project in the last few days.
Our first OOTW for 2020 is this lovely shot of two Silvery Blue butterflies from @markwhitcombe. The photo caught our eye because of the combination of the blue upper sides of the wings of the butterfly in flight and the grey under sides of the butterfly on the plant.
Mark was out taking pictures of Mallards, using a Moment telephoto add-on lens to his smartphone, when he noticed the two butterflies. “I quickly took off the 2x telephoto lens, and tapped the 1x normal lens and took the first set of photos very quickly. The butterfly is very fast and restless! […] The male was making advances on the female, but she wasn’t receptive, and so after about 10 seconds flew off. Cathy spotted where they landed behind me, and I quickly turned around and bent over to take the other photos.”
Silvery Blue populations generally peak in Ontario around now, which explains why they are the most observed species in our project at the moment. They are currently distributed throughout most of the province, although they used to be found only further north. They have expanded their range southward over the past six decades, benefiting from the spread of non-native plants on which their caterpillars have adapted to feed. You can read summary of this expansion here.
The caterpillars of Silvery Blue butterflies eat plants in the legume family (Fabaceae), including vetch and clover. They can be different colours – from pink to green – depending on what they’re feeding on. And, like many caterpillars from the same family, Silvery Blue caterpillars can often be found with ants. They have an interdependent relationship, where the ants protect the caterpillars from enemies and the caterpillars provide a sweet honeydew liquid for the ants to eat.
Mark is the Chair of the local naturalist club Headwaters Nature and wrote about his observation for both their Facebook and Instagram pages. Mark says: “Later today, I’m heading back out to photograph vetch flowers using the macro lens. I’ll be paying attention to any eggs I see near the flowers!”
Happy butterflying!
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I got my first inaturalist observation over the weekend as well, we are fairly sure it's Cabbage White and it seems to be prevalent in Georgetown but at this point, hard for me to photograph, as I am still learning.
Hi @jamie_marchant - nice observation! There are definitely lots of Cabbage Whites around, so hopefully they cooperate and let you get some more practice in taking photos of them.
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