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| Early blooming plants like Elbowbush attract butterflies |
While butterflies are most noticeable in spring, summer, and fall, seeing them in the middle of winter is often surprising. Most spend the winter in the egg, larva, or chrysalis stage of development, concealed in leaf litter or in other forms of vegetation, but some overwinter as adults.
Most of the adult butterflies observed in the winter belong to the Brushfoots, a highly variable group of primarily mid-sized butterflies, some with irregular wing shapes, and many that fly with distinctively alternating flaps and glides. In our area, the adult butterflies in this group most often seen in the winter, usually on a particularly warm sunny day, include the Red Admiral (Vanessa atalanta), Question Mark (Polygonia interrogationis), and Painted Lady (Vanessa cardui).
The Red Admiral is a common butterfly, not to be confused with any other species. Dark above with fiery orange-red slashes and white spots on the outer part of the forewing, their flight is fast and erratic, darting out at anything crossing their path. Their larval host plants include nettles and pellitories.
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| Red Admiral |
Question Marks are also quite common, and their orange forewings and hindwings are sprinkled with dark brown dashes and dots, especially in the winter form (oddly, in summer their hindwings are mostly black). Their wings have irregular edges with a somewhat hooked forewing tip and a short tail on the hindwing. But their most distinctive feature is the silvery comma and adjacent dot forming a question mark in the center of the hindwing’s underside. Their larval host plants include nettles, hackberries, and elms.
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| Question Mark |
The Painted Lady is one of the most familiar butterflies in all of the US. They are orange and black with a black patch and white spots on the forewing tips and a row of small black spots on the hindwing. On the hindwing’s underside, they have a row of four small eyespots which help distinguish them from American Lady butterflies. Their larval host plants include mainly thistles and mallows.
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| Painted Lady |
But how do these adult butterflies survive the cold? First, they begin to enter a period of suspended development in the fall, called diapause, which causes their metabolic processes to slow down considerably. Second, their bodies produce chemicals that act as natural antifreeze, preventing their body fluids from freezing. And third, they find protected locations to shelter from the cold, such as in tree hollows, under loose bark or leaf litter, in cracks between rocks, or among dense, dry brush.
Those butterflies that overwinter in the egg, larval or pupal development stage have hidden homes in the colder months. Some are lying in leaf litter on the ground, while others are slumbering in silk shelters on spent stems and along grass blades. While it can be difficult to spot these hidden homes, be mindful that these vulnerable creatures are asleep in our yards and green spaces, and try to hold off on removing all leaf litter and performing cut back until the beginning of spring.
