Would you believe it?
- Tongues in their feet – Butterflies have taste organs at the end of each of their six legs. These are used to find their caterpillars' food plant on which to lay their eggs. They also have hairy sensory organs (labial palps) either side of their proboscis, or tongue, which are covered in hairs and scales and are used to check if something is food.
- Rape and Chastity belts – The male Glasswing butterfly forces a female to the ground and mates with her before inserting a sphragis to stop other males mating with her and so ensure it is his sperm that fertilizes the eggs.
- Aphrodisiacs – Male Tiger butterflies are said to dust their females with an aphrodisiac powder.
- Carnivorous Caterpillars – The larvae of many butterflies in the Blue family are attended by ants that provide them with protection, often from predatory flies and wasps. However several species of Blue butterflies take advantage of this protection and attack the ant larvae or ant eggs as a source of food - these butterfly larvae live in the ants' nest and do not eat leaves.
- Aquatic Caterpillars – There are even caterpillars (of the moth family Crambidae) that have gills and live in water, feeding on aquatic leaves or algae. The moths are tiny – less than 1 cm wing tip to wing tip. We photographed this one in Far Nth Qld.
- Migration – Some species of butterflies fly long distances, sometimes many hundreds of kilometers and often away from where their food plant grows. The reasons for these migration flights are not understood - some of nature's mysteries still to be solved. The butterfly we see here most years on their migration flight in considerable numbers is the Caper White. Other species we see migrating in some years in smaller numbers are Blue Tigers, Painted Ladies, Meadow Argus, Yellow Albatross and Chequered Swallowtails. The Migrants pass through most years but only in very low numbers.
- 4Hilltopping – Butterflies, usually males, will sometimes fly around the top of a hill hoping to find a female that has flown up looking for a mate. The males fly round and round the summit guarding their territory. We saw this happening on Mount Coramba, near Coffs Harbour - it was quite a spectacle. On our property we have seen Macleay's Swallowtails hilltopping on our hill.
- Butterfly Names – These are not always descriptive but can be names of other animals or anthropomorphic. Here are a few: Albatross, Gulls, Swifts, Crows, Peacocks, Tits, Owls, Birdwings and Swallowtails.
Tigers and Zebras.
Aeroplanes, Darters, Quakers
Admirals, Monarchs, Skippers, Emperors
Harlequins, Flashes, Demons and Vagrants. Jezebels and Painted Ladies
- Winter Butterflies @ Claire Cottage 2018 - A request from Kelvyn Dunn to learn more about the butterflies we see here in winter time encouraged us to maintain a daily record for June, July and August 2018. That information is shown below (please note the min & max temps shown are for Dorrigo which is approx 50 metres lower than us at Claire Cottage and 10k from us to the south).
Note: most of our observations are made either when we enjoy a morning cuppa (around 10.30) or having lunch (sometime between 12.30 -14.00hrs) sitting on the verandah -neither of us spot much when we are working on the property - our eyes are elsewhere. When we say 'approx' it is because often butterflies stay around the garden for sometime flying to and fro over the house roof so we have assumed some duplication and have reduced larger numbers accordingly. - JUNE 01/06/18 - Min 6.5; Max 12.5 - No sightings 02/06/18 - Min 6.8; Max 15.3 - Appias paulina (female), Danaus plexippus (small adult), Delias nigrina, Graphium macleayanum, Hypocysta metirius, Vanessa itea,
03/06/18 - 09/06/18 - frequently away from Claire Cottage (Min 5.0; Max 16.0) - no sightings 10/06/18 - Min 8.0; Max 13.5 - approx 10 x Delias nigrina and 3 x Pieris rapae
11/06/18 - Min 8.0; Max 13.5 - approx 4 x Delias nigrina and 6 x Pieris rapae
13/06/18 - Min 5.0; Max 18.0 - 1 x Danaus plexippus (large specimen looked newly emerged); 7 x Delias nigrina, 4 x Pieris rapae
14/06/18 - Min 4.0; Max 16.0 - 5 x Delias nigrina, 2 x Pieris rapae
Away in Sydney 14th - 17th Dorrigo temps dropped below 2C on 3 nights, followed by cold windy weather with no butterflies.
22/06/18 - Min 4.5; Max 15.2 - 1 x Danaus plexippus, 6 x Pieris rapae, 1 x Vanessa itea
23/06/18 - Min 2.0; Max 16.6 - away most of the day; as @ 15.00hrs 1 x Delias nigrina
24/06/18 - Min 2.0; Max 14.5 - no sightings
25/06/18 - Min 5.0; Max 14.0 - 2 x Danaus plexippus, 2 x Delias nigrina
26/06/18 - Min 4.0; Max 14.0 - 2 x Delias nigrina
27/06/18 - Min 5.0; Max 12.5 - no sightings
28/06/18 - Min 7.5; Max 15.5 - no sightings 29/06/18 - Min 3.5; Max 16.0 - 1 x Danaus plexippus, 2 x Delias nigrina, 2 x Pieris rapae, & possibly (?) 1 x Charaxes sempronius flying at about 20 metres along the edge of our rainforest, approx 100 metres from us, before taking off across the top of our rainforest - approx 30-40 metres high.
30/06/18 - Min 4.0; Max 18.0 - 1 x Pieris rapae (beautiful warm windless day but only one butterfly spotted). - July - Light rain and plenty of heavy cloud cover over the first 5 days of July resulted in no butterflies (Min 7C - Max 17C).
6th Sunny......... Min 13C.. Max 18C - 1 x Delius nigrina
7th Sunny......... Min 7.5C. Max 18C - none sighted
8th Sunny**...... Min 1C.... Max 16C-1 x Danaus plexippus, 1 x Delius nigrina, 1 x Pieris rapae, 1 x Vanessa itea
9th Sunny*........ Min 2C....Max 13C - none sighted
10th Sunny*....... Min 3C.... Max 13.5C - none sighted
11th Sunny*........ Min 3C.... Max 15C - 1 x Vanessa itea
12th Sun/cloud*. Min 3C.... Max 15C - none sighted
13th Sunny*....... Min 2.5C..Max 12.5C - 1 x Danaus plexippus, 1 x Delius nigrina, 1 x Pieris rapae,
14th Sunny**..... Min 0.5C.. Max 13.2C - 2 x Delius nigrina
15th Sunny***..... Min -2C.. Max 15.5C - 2 x Delius nigrina
16th Sunny**....... Min -1C.. Max 17C - 2 x Delius nigrina
17th Sunny*........ Min 3C.... Max 18C - away all day
18th Sunny.......... Min 4.5C.. Max 19C - 3 x Pieris rapae, 1 x Zizina otis
19th Sunny**....... Min 2C.. Max 20C - 1 x Zizina otis (2 of whom were mating)
20th Cloudy......... Min 4.5C.. Max 18C - 1 x Zizina otis
21st Sunny**....... Min 2C.. Max 12.8C - 3 x Zizina otis
22nd Sunny***..... Min -0.5C.. Max 14C - away all day
23rd Sunny***..... Min 1.5C.. Max 16C - none sighted
24th Sunny.......... Min 3C.. Max 21C - away all day - 1 x Delius nigrina
25th Sunny........... Min 6C.. Max 20C - 1 x Danaus plexippus, 3 x Pieris rapae, 3 x Zizina otis
26th Sunny........... Min 5.5C.. Max 17C - 1 x Pieris rapae,
27th Sunny........... Min 4.5C.. Max 20.1C - 1 x Delius nigrina, 2 x Zizina otis
28th Sunny........... Min 3.2C.. Max 20.2C -1 x Delius nigrina, 2 x Graphium macleayanum, 3 x Pieris rapae, 2 x Zizina otis
29th Sunny........... Min 7C.... Max 20C - VERY strong Westerly wind - NO BUTTERFLIES
30th Sunny*......... Min 4.5C.... Max 16.5C - 15+ x Pieris rapae, 20+ x Zizina otis
31st Sunny**........ Min 0C.. Max 18C - away all day
-* Light Frost
-** Heavy Frost
-*** Very Heavy Frost - AUGUST 2018
2nd Sun/cloud**..... Min 3C...... Max 16C - No sightings
3rd Sunny............... Min 5C...... Max 17.5C - 2 x Pieris rapae
4th Sunny............... Min 7.9C.... Max 17C - No sightings
5th Sunny*............. Min 2.5C.... Max 20C - No sightings
6th Sunny............... Min 7C...... Max 20C - No sightings - very strong westerly wind
7th Sunny............... Min 4C.......Max 15C - 1 x Pieris rapae
8th Sunny**............ Min -0.5C...Max 17C- strong westerly wind - 2 x Pieris rapae, 1 x Vanessa itea
9th Sunny*.............. Min 3C...... Max 15C- 1 x Graphium macleayanum, 4 x Pieris rapae
10th Sunny**........... Min
11h Sunny............... Min
12th Sunny............... Min
13th Sunny**............ Min
14th Sunny**............ Min
15th Sunny............... Min
16th Sunny............... Min
-
10th August Sunny** - ...............Min 1.5C .. Max 17.2C - 4 x Pieris rapae
11th August Sunny - ...................Min 5.7C .. Max 19C - 3 x Pieris rapae,
12th August Sunny - ...................Min 6.5C .. Max 13.5C - (at Coramba all day - 1 x Graphium macleayanum, 1 x Delius nigrina)
13th August Sunny** - ...............Min -2C ..... Max 15C - 1 x Delius nigrina, 5 x Pieris rapae
14th August Sunny** - ...............Min 1C ''''.. Max 19C - away all day
15th August Sunny - ...................Min 2C ...... Max 25C - 4 x Pieris rapae, 2 x Delius nigrina, 1 x Graphium macleayanum,
16th August Sunny - ...................Min 8C ...... Max 22C - 2 x Pieris rapae (we were out most of day),
17th August Sunny - ...................Min 8C ...... Max 19C - 1 x Graphium macleayanum,
18th August Sunny** - ...............Min 0.5C ... Max 19.7C - 1 x Delius nigrina,
19th August Sunny - ...................Min 4.5C ... Max 13C - 1 x Delius nigrina,
20th August Sunny - ...................Min 3.5C ... Max 12.8C - away all day
21st August Sunny** - ................Min 0.0C ... Max 16C - away most of the day
22nd August Sunny* - ................Min 0.5C ... Max 16.1C - 4 x Pieris rapae, 2 x Delius nigrina, 3 x Graphium macleayanum,
23rd August Sunny*** - .............Min 1.4C ... Max 15.5C - 1 x Graphium macleayanum,
24th August Sunny* - .................Min 4.0C ... Max 17.4C - 1 x Pieris rapae,
25th August Sunny - ...................Min 7.1C ... Max 15.7C - 1 x Zizina otis (overnight 3.5mm rain - first since 05/07/18)
26th August Sunny - ...................Min 8.2C ... Max 13C - (cool overcast day with some rain - 11mm)
27th August Sunny - ...................Min 3.5C ... Max 14C - 5 x Pieris rapae, 5 x Graphium macleayanum,
28th August Sunny - ...................Min 4.5C ... Max 14.5C- away most of the day
229th August Sunny - ...................Min ??C .... Max ??C9th August Sunny** - ...............Min 0.8C ... Max 16.0C - away all day in Sydney29th August Sunny - ...................Min ??C .... Max ??C9th August Sunny - ...................Min ??C .... Max ??C229th August Sunny - ...................Min ??C .... Max ??C9th August Sunny - ...................Min ??C .... Max ??C
30th August Sunny*** - .............Min 0.0C ... Max 16.0C - away all day in Sydneyaway all day in Sydney away all day in Sydney
31st August Sunny* - ..................Min 2.5C ....Max 19.2C - away all day in Sydneyaway all day in Sydneyaway all day in Sydney
In summary we have endured a very cold winter this year particularly in July & August - whilst we have not kept detailed records in previous winter's we believe (from memory) the number of frosts this year far exceeds those occurring at Claire Cottage in the last 6-7 years and of course there may be more to come in September. Again whilst we have not kept such detailed records of butterflies sighted in winter time before our guess is that numbers are down. Keep in mind if we spent all day looking we would sight greater numbers and there are places on our property where we are almost guaranteed to find Zizina otis every day if the sun is shinning.
Rainfall for August was 11mm. We may try to keep this level of detail going for a few more months if we can find the time - it may help to keep my memory ticking over more effectively.
