Observation date: May 06, 2022
Submitted by: DeepSkyKelly
Specimen type: Photograph
Observation notes: I'd seen this butterfly near one spot on the Lake Alice Trail for several days in a row, but this is the first photo I was able to get. It's fairly large, obviously rich orange when in flight, and really pale tan/peach color on the underside. The color of the underwings as well as the range makes me lean toward Goatweed, but the spots on the upper forewing and lack of obvious sub-marginal band make me lean toward Tropical, which looks like it can occasionally range into this area. The area where I saw it today was flush with butterflies. There were several Mourning Cloaks all clustered together on one oak tree and several in a neighboring juniper, and lots of commas. The Mourning Cloaks and Leafwing frequently dove at and circled each other. The Leafwing seemed to prefer landing on top of taller branches. This small spot--no more than 20 feet along the trail--was absolutely full of butterflies. A definite hot spot for some reason. Interesting.
Status: Resident
Verified by: stevecary
Verified date: May 08, 2022
Coordinator notes: maybe there were a couple trees/shrubs leaking sap from a wound (even sapsucker wells). many of these species prefer sap over nectar. Marks on goatweed and tropical can show some overlap. a more reliable character is the leading edge of the hindwing, which is smooth for goatweed and weakly serrated for tropical.
