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Early Spring Butterflies

Red Admiral Butterfly



Early Spring Butterflies are a sure sign winter is over.

Butterflies being solar creatures aren't really around until the weather really heats up. The days and nights have to be consistently 60 degrees Fahrenheit or 16 degrees Celsius, before they are flying. Often only the Cabbage Whites are chasing each other around in the cool sunshine.

To find them you also need to know where to look. The places I look for them are along roadsides, fields, parks and in my backyard. They enjoy warm open spots where flowers bloom in profusion.

Early in the season,I often don't cut the little grass I have in my backyard because it is full of clover, dandelions and the little purple flowers of gill-over-the-ground. Flowers such as dandelions, clover, and blueberries are alsoimportant nectar sources. These flowers provide some of the few early nectar sources.


Who you may see

Cabbage Whites

Mourning Cloaks

Eastern Commas

Spring Azure

Falcate Orangetips

various Elfins

Juvenal's Duskywing

Cobweb Skipper



You may see these species in the early in the season. They overwinter as adults.

Mourning Cloaks

Red Admirals

Questions Marks

Eastern Comma

Cabbage White

Orange Sulphur

Clouded Sulphur



More Butterfly Information

Butterfly Life Cycle
egg
larva
chrysalis
adult

Where to find them
The most common butterfly species
Seven butterfly families
Spring butterflies

Attracting Butterflies
Top nectar plants
Top host plants


Field Guides
Black Butterflies
Mourning Cloak Butterfly
Swallowtail Butterflies


From Early Spring Butterflies Return to Butterflies


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