Pictured here is a male Goatweed Leafwing butterfly. I was walking in the woods on a cool March morning and was able to photograph this beauty while he was soaking up some rays.

Here you can see the underside of this little guy’s wings. When folded, they look like dead leaves. This coloring keeps them from being taken by predators.

A different angle on the inner and outer wings reveals dull camouflage beneath and bold rusty red above. This arrangement makes these guys stand out when they are flying and disappear when they stop on a branch or pile of leaves.

Compare the leaf color seen here to the previous two images. Resembling dead leaves is definitely and advantage in this environment.

Anaea andria in the brushfoot butterfly family (Nymphalidae) likes deciduous forests near water. The Goatweed Leafwing feeds on tree or plant sap, rotting fruit, animal dung, and bird droppings. Not your typical fare for butterflies.

You can read more about these woodland butterflies at the Butterflies and Moths of North America website.

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Pictured here is an example of the Common Buckeye butterfly, Junonia coenia in the family Nymphalidae. They are named for the large eyespot markings on their upper wings. Unfortunately, this butterfly would not open its wings long enough for me to take a photograph.

It was intent on flitting around my lawn while I was photographing a Texas Horned lizard nearby. I have never seen this kind of butterfly before. Since I moved to West Texas, I’ve been able to see many things I have not seen before which delights me.

In the last photo you can see the fully extended probscis. There were no flowers blooming in the bermuda grass, so I guess this fellow was looking for drink of water or some needed minerals.

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Pictured here is an example of the Phaon Crescent butterfly (Phyciodes phaon) feeding on one of its favorite plants Texas Frogfruit (Phyla nodiflora). These pictures were taken in Fort Worth, Texas in 2011. Phaon Crescents belong to the True Brushfoot butterfly family Nymphalidae. These butterflies like open habitat with low vegetation in forested country. Along the rear edge of the hindwing you can see the v-shaped white markings that are the crescents for which this species is named. I find the markings on their antennae interesting too.

The above image shows the cream colored underside of the hindwing which confirms this butterfly as a Phaon Crescent. Notice the cream-colored band that is also an identification character shows through to the underside of the fore-wing. The two black eyespots on the hindwing surrounded by rings make this butterfly a male. Female Phaon Crescents have smaller eyespots and lack the ring around them. These butterflies range from Guatemala, Cuba, and Mexico into the southern US Gulf States, as far west as California, and north as far as Missouri and South Carolina.

For more information on this species you might like to visit the Butterflies and Moths of North America website or the Butterflies of America website.

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Above, you can see a Pearl Crescent butterfly probing a disk flower of White Prairie Aster with its proboscis. The flowers are about an inch in diameter and the butterfly is slightly larger. It was a breezy day as I watched these small creatures struggle to hang on while they fed. Something marvelous that you don’t see everyday.

Pearl Crescents prefer open grassland habitats and can be found throughout southern Canada, and the Plains, Midwestern and Eastern Seaboard States of the U.S. They prefer to feed on aster wildflowers. In this image, you can see the lighter, checkered underside of their wings. This is also a defining character of these members of the Nymphalidae (Brushfoot butterflies)

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Euptoieta claudia, the Variegated Fritillary, is a medium sized butterfly with muted orange and black markings. This specimen is feeding on White Prairie Aster blooms which is a challenge considering their relative sizes.

Variegated Fritillaries belong the the brushfoot butterfly family, Nymphalidae. This species ranges over most of the U. S. and Canada feeding on a wide variety of wildflowers and grassland plants. They are found as far south as Argentina in South America but apparently not in the Pacific Northwest of the U. S. Notice the cream colored band on the underside of the wing. This is an identifying characteristic of this species.

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