Thursday, August 21, 2008

Winging it!

During my recent walk to the beach, I came across a Pine White butterfly swaying in the breeze on a yellow-flowered bush. The plant seems to be a Buddleia Honeycomb, seemingly a yellow variety of the more common blue Buddleia butterfly bush. At one time, I may not even have noticed the butterfly, but now my eyes are pealed for all sorts of nature's wonders, which prompt me to research more into each discovery.

A wonderful site from the University of British Columbia (E-Fauna BC) has helped me learn more about local butterflies:
http://www.geog.ubc.ca/biodiversity/efauna/butterflies.html

This site (NatureWorks)describes the Pine White Butterfly
http://www.nhptv.org/natureworks/pinewhitebutterfly.htm

as does this Govt. of Canada site:
http://www.cbif.gc.ca/spp_pages/butterflies/species/PineWhite_e.php

This next site (Butterfly Garden) is also very informative, and introduced me to the Skipper, which is a small butterfly ~ and from this I've gleaned that my previous photo of the brownish butterfly on the petunia was actually a Woodland Skipper.
http://zajac.ca/butterflygarden/index.html

The caterpillar of the Pine White Butterfly eats conifer needles, so is considered to be some, a pest! Does that mean it might be a WEED of the butterfly world!?












7 comments:

  1. This butterfly is no weed, it is beautiful and very different to any we would see over here in the UK. You couldn't show us a photo sometime of the yellow buddleia, I am intrigued. x

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  2. Sorry Glo, I have just realised the butterfly is on the yellow buddleia in your photos. I think I need a break and a drink! x

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  3. Oh oh oh! Look at the glow you've captured on that butterly wing!

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  4. The markings are lovely, what a keen natures eye you have Glo!
    I like butterflies although I don't think I'm alert enough to see much more than the white cabbage ones. (I think that's waht they are called... or cauliflower..)

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  5. Hi Louise, I'll go by the bush again and take a better picture of because I was quite intrigued by it, too. I can't say I've seen that particular type of bush growing anywhere else. I thought it might be a type of buddleia by the shape of the flowering heads. Yes, it was a very pretty butterfly, with very delicate markings. I think it is the caterpillars that worry some people because of the damage they can do to conifers. I was glad to be able to find the name of the butterfly and the buddleia and learn more about them :)

    Nikki ~ I must confess to a bit of Photoshop lighting there! I wanted to emphasize the eye area...and tried to see if a little bit of magic would help! ;)

    Hi Daffy ~ Thanks:) Well now that I've learned to wait until the butterflies are feeding before attempting to take photos, it helps! I used to flutter about the yard like them, and become quite frustrated trying to take a photo, to say nothing of feeling dizzy...haha

    Those white ones you talk about seem to be real flutterbies, and I have seen the fly extremely high! Well, I'm off to see what else I can find out there :)

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  6. Wonderful! Terrific photos, especially the first one.
    Buddleias over here are usually the purple ones and I didn't know there was a yellow one.
    Interesting links that I shall look at in more detail over the weekend. xx

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  7. Glad you enjoyed the butterfly, Flighty :) The links were very helpful and informative for me.

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