A Gathering Of Butterflies

April 21st, 2012. Just south of GA-83, Starrs Road - the road from GA-83 through the Oconee National Forest into the Piedmont National Wildlife Refuge – jogs to the right before it continues south the NWR. (On Google Maps, the road on the left marked Starr Road is the road; the ‘road’ that looks like it continues directly from GA-83 is a power line right-of-way.) For some reason, butterflies are attracted to this specific section of road. Some gather here in large numbers. This day was no different. We found four different butterflies: an American Lady (Vanessa virginiensis), a Hackberry Emperor (Asterocampa celtis), and many Question Mark (Polygonia interrogationis) and, a new butterfly for me, the American Snout (Libytheana carinenta)

American Lady (Vanessa virginiensis). We saw one American Lady also known as American Painted Lady or Painted Beauty.

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Hackberry Emperor (Asterocampa celtis). We don’t see Hackberry Emperors very often – although I’ve seen several this year - so it is always a treat to see this one.

Question Mark (Polygonia interrogationis), wings open. By a rough count there were probably 20 to 30 of these. Of course, the challenge is to get a look at the underside of the wing to see if it’s a…

Question Mark or an Eastern Comma (Polygonia comma). Clearly this one is a Question Mark. And then there was the new kid on the block…

Next: American Snout (Libytheana carinenta)
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Identification resources:
Michael Beohm, West Central Georgia Butterflies:
- Polygonia interrogationis (Question Mark)
- Vanessa virginiensis (American Lady)
- Asterocampa celtis (Hackberry Emperor)

BugGuide:
- Polygonia interrogationis (Question Mark): [Wings open] [Wings closed]
- Vanessa virginiensis (American Lady): [Wings open] [Wings closed]
- Asterocampa celtis (Hackberry Emperor): [Wings open] [Wings closed]

Related posts:
- April: Butterfly Afternoons At Scull Shoals
- Pipevine Swallowtail (Battus philenor)

Hackberry Emperor (Asterocampa celtis)

It was late afternoon. We’d gone to Charlie Elliott Wildlife Center in Jasper County to look for wildflowers and dragonflies. Our last stop was at Whitetail Lake. We walked along the dam where we found clusters of Sleepy Orange butterflies (Abaeis nicippe) sipping moisture to get salts from the mud.

We headed back to the car after the sun had dropped behind the trees. The light was quite poor. But there on some dung was a Hackberry Emperor (Asterocampa celtis) also sipping salts in the moisture. I used flash to take these photos. This is the first Hackberry Emperor I’d seen; he's a male. The Hackberry Emperor is not common in Georgia compared with other areas in the United States.

He spent most of the time with folded wings.

Occasionally he would open its wings.

We went back to ‘Charlie Elliott’ a couple of days later to photograph wildflowers. We stopped along the road not too far from Whitetail Lake to photograph some thistles.

This butterfly, also male, decided that Ws t-shirt was ‘taste of the day’ and proceeded to ‘collect’ salts. He was persistent and, If spooked, he would fly around for a few seconds and return again. He did this for 10 to 15 minutes.
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Identification resources:
- Westcentral Georgia Butterflies by Michael Beohm: Hackberry Emperor (Asterocampa celtis)
- BugGuide: Hackberry Emperor (Asterocampa celtis)
-- Male: [Wings open] [Wings folded]
-- Female: [Wings open] [Wings folded]
- Butterflies and Moths of North America: Hackberry Emperor (Asterocampa celtis)