Eggcellent Gulf Fritillary Butterfly

It's been windy and that makes it tough for butterflies - not to mention tough for butterfly photographers.  But the butterflies were out and so was I.  With Heart's "Dog and Butterfly" was playing in my head (click here to listen with me), I did my best to photograph this Gulf Fritillary butterfly as it flew and fluttered in the windblown vegetation.

The lovely Agraulis vanillae - Gulf Fritillary butterfly with its distinctive silver-spotted abdomen and orange wings with silver spots and black markings.

Very photogenic, so I obliged.

This may very well be the adult butterfly from the caterpillar that I showed a photo of a couple of weeks ago here.  In fact that rock below (really it's a piece of concrete from an old piling) is the same one pictured earlier.

It was fluttering around in a very suspicious manner.

Its flutterings made me think that it was in egg-laying mode, so I took more photos hoping for an action shot.

Not still for long, I got a blurry view of the underside as it hovered briefly before changing direction.

Off again to investigate some nearby plants.

She found something promising...

Getting ready.

and possibly deposited an egg.

Is that an egg? or an illusion?

Still on the chase, I followed her as she dropped onto a low plant.  Click on the photos for the big show.

I snapped away as she lingered on the leaf.

And there!  The abdomen makes contact with the leaf.

She remains in place a few seconds longer.

She moves back and it looks like there is a single yellow dot on the leaf.  Is it an egg?

Congratulations - you have an egg.

A single yellow egg in the middle of the leaf.  And just take a look at the leaf below the egg-bearing leaf. Sure looks caterpillar-eaten to me!  Someone was here earlier.

No dog, but an eggcellent butterfly.  I see a walk in my future to check on caterpillars ... 

Nymphalis antiopa - Mourning Cloak Butterfly AKA Camberwall Beauty

A couple of weeks ago I saw my first Mourning cloak of the summer.

It seems to be licking the petals of the coneflower.

So many butterflies are attracted to coneflower.

Bug Guide tells me that it is known as the Camberwall Beauty in the UK.  It is a beauty, sure enough.  Don't you love those blue dots along the wing margins?

It is in the genus of Tortoiseshells.  The adults mostly feed on tree sap and rotten fruit.  Occasionally, as seen here, they do partake of nectar.

It has an odd life cycle, at least in my limited experience.  It overwinters as an adult, quite a feat for an insect in this climate.  Eggs are laid on young twigs of host trees like willow, river birch, and cottonwood that are found along rivers. The caterpillars live in communal webs and eat the young leaves of the host tree.  The first generation adults emerge in early summer, feed briefly, and then estivate until autumn.  I am pretty sure that the individuals I have seen are the re-emergent adults trying to fatten up before over-wintering.  They may even have a short migration south to over-winter in a less drastic climate than what we have here in Minnesota.  Not a bad idea at all.  ;-)