San Marcos, Hays County, Texas
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San Marcos, Hays County, Texas
First butterfly photos for 2025! Seen in eastern Wake County, NC.
First butterfly photos for 2025! Seen in eastern Wake County, NC.
First butterfly photos for 2025! Seen in eastern Wake County, NC.
No other hairstreak quite like this one, large and robust (may be the largest of the hairstreaks) with stunning appearance. The top of the wings is iridescent blue only seen when the hairstreak decides to bid farewell and fly away from the paparazzi camera lens.
This species is always a great treat to see, but in south Texas, it is very rare. Quite secretive, it made a short appearance at the National Butterfly Center giving me a few lucky shots at the end of our trip in late afternoon.
The larval host plant is (Christmas) mistletoe that grows on trees. The Great Purple Hairstreak especially favors mistletoe on oaks.
This individual is a female with a bite out of her wing from a hungry predator.
Family Lycaenidae/Theclinae
This RARE native hairstreak pops up at the wetlands - usually in September in wild boneset. Always dogged by these wasps - so I included one. Their host plant is mistletoe - which is fairly common in oaks & other hardwoods here. An even rarer White M Hairstreak was nearby - and I saw the 2 species on the same day in the same sedge meadow last year! North Georgia
Check out the FANTASTIC Christmas musical here @ FBCW - especially the 4 tenors & Messiah at end!
www.youtube.com/watch?v=YUsWL6l3k6M
ALBUM - to see all: 12 Days of Christmas Butterflies 2024:
www.flickr.com/photos/vickisnature/albums/72177720322526231
Deep Creek Ranch, Uvalde County Texas
One of the few rare butterfly species I saw this year.
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btw I plan to not only do "12 Days of Christmas Butterflies" in December, but adding "12 Dragonflies to be Thankful For" this month! Hope you all will come by ...
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Surprise visitor to my yard today!
Great Purple Hairstreak - Atlides halesus
Location: Durham NC (USA)
Taking nectar from cultivated Frostweed, Verbesina virginica.
Damaged right hindwing lets you see a bit of the upper surface of the left wing.
I do not see this often. Their larval hostplant, mistletoe, is not common in my immediate area. I have just one clump in an old maple, and this was very close to it.
Surprise visitor to my yard today!
Great Purple Hairstreak - Atlides halesus
Location: Durham NC (USA)
Taking nectar from cultivated Frostweed, Verbesina virginica.
Damaged right hindwing lets you see a bit of the upper surface of the left wing.
I do not see this often. Their larval hostplant, mistletoe, is not common in my immediate area. I have just one clump in an old maple, and this was very close to it.
I don't see these colorful hairstreaks every year - but it's only in September on boneset @ the wetlands when I do! So I start scanning the boneset in September.
FUN STORY: TWO rare hairstreaks were perched in the same boneset in the Sedge Meadow full of blooming boneset as we walked by: a White M Hairstreak (which I spotted first) and this Great Purple Hairstreak right above it. Almost to the day ... last September these same TWO rare hairstreak sps were perched out there on boneset in this meadow on 9-10-23! @ the wetlands Sedge Meadow/North GA 9-8-24
The largest and the most fascinating hairstreak in North America. Its common name is a mystery as there is no true purple color found on this butterfly. The top of the wings is stunning iridescent blue, seen only in flight. In sunlight one may perceive the brown wings as being plum purple.
This individual is a female. Family Lycaenidae/Theclinae.
Great Purple Hairstreak photographed in Miller Canyon, AZ on 26 July 2024.
Great Purple Hairstreak photographed in Miller Canyon, AZ on 26 July 2024.
A rare sighting in my own County, and my first after 10 years of living here! I have seen many in the Warners and the Modoc Plateau, but this one was a surprise.
Another surprise is that this area was burned two years ago and this Coffee Berry Bush was one of the only nectar sources available. Photoaken in Southern Oregon's Siskiyou Mountains on 8/5/24.
A rare sighting in my own County, and my first after 10 years of living here! I have seen many in the Warners and the Modoc Plateau, but this one was a surprise.
Another surprise is that this area was burned two years ago and this Coffee Berry Bush was one of the only nectar sources available. Photo taken in Southern Oregon's Siskiyou Mountains on 8/5/24.
Atlides halesus
Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center
