Despite a wet start with few butterflies visible, the day dried out and warmed up and finally yielded thirty three species, one shy of our record from 2008. The best butterfly of the day was a goatweed leafwing, a very rare species for Sewanee.
Northern pearly-eye
I was lucky to get this photo. Pearly-eyes usually fly away when approached too closely. Note the black bases to the clubs at the end of the antennae — this distinguishes the Northern from the Southern pearly-eye.
Mystery pearl-eye?
And the antennae on this individual seem ambiguous. They are mostly yellow (as in Southern), but have a slight tinge of dark (as in Northern). Hmm.
Two spots on each wing characterize this species. Usually they do not sit long enough for a photo, but fly in a "bouncy" way over the tops of vegetation. Their caterpillars feed on grasses. One more reason not to mow the grass.
Cool facial hair and antennae.
Eileen Schaeffer sent me this great shot of a hackberry emperor on her finger. This species loves to sup on salt and this individual is no exception: check out the unfurled proboscis.
Hackberry emperor slurping salt
Host plants: oaks and hickories. This one looks newly emerged.
David George Haskell 