August 11th, 2012. There are a couple of swamps on Enoch John Road
in Wilkes County, Georgia. We make sure
that we go by them each time we go to Wilkes County. There’s always something
to see. It’s worth noting, however, that the road approaching the Anderson Mill Creek swamp from the west has a couple of deep potholes that are filled with
water just before the bridge over the swamp. On the 11th, we were
treated to a Viceroy (Limenitis archippus) butterfly. I’ve only seen this
butterfly once previously.
It was skittish. It had landed on
the gravel roadway to sun itself but took off when I approached it. After a while
it settled on the tip of a Common Arrowhead (Sagittaria latifolia) leaf over the water.
*****
*****
It opened and closed its wings
repeatedly before it finally settled with…
wings opened to soak up the heat of
the afternoon sun.
Viceroys are resident in Georgia and may be seen between early March to early November.
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on an image to view a closer image
Identification
resources:
- Butterflies
and Moths of North America: Viceroy (Limenitis archippus)
- Michael Beohm, West Central Georgia Butterflies: Viceroy (Limenitis archippus)
Related
post:
What a beauty. These are great photos of it too. It is so hard to take shots of a butterfly. They move so darn fast!
ReplyDeleteThis one definitely was a challenge but it was too good to pass up
ReplyDelete