Observation of the week – August 24 to 30

Today’s OOTW features a new species for the 2020 Butterfly Blitz – the Common Buckeye. Darcy McNamee (aka @darcy16) observed a mating pair of them in the tallgrass prairie at Jack Darling park in Mississauga.

Darcy works for the Woodlands and Natural Areas team at the City of Mississauga and was doing maintenance in the prairie when he noticed the pair fly by. He quickly snapped a photo and used iNaturalist to help confirm the species.

Common Buckeyes are referred to as breeding migrants in Ontario. They are not considered to be a resident species because they do not spend the winter here.

Adult Common Buckeye butterflies spend the winter in the southern U.S. and Mexico and fly north each year in the spring. They are found breeding throughout the northeastern U.S. in the summer and fall, and in most years they are also found breeding in southern Ontario. In rare years with the right conditions they can move even further north; they are occasionally found in Thunder Bay – including this year.

If the Common Buckeye's migratory habits sound a bit like the Monarch butterfly to you, you may not be surprised to hear that the two species are related. Several other breeding migrants occur in the same family, including the Painted Lady, American Lady, Red Admiral, Question Mark. None of these species can survive our freezing winter temperatures in any of their life stages.

Marc Johnson (@marcjohnson) and his family also observed several Common Buckeyes at Jack Darling this weekend. It seems that we have a small population of these beautiful butterflies at Jack Darling park.

The tallgrass prairie at Jack Darling where the Common Buckeyes have been seen is a special restored natural area in Mississauga. Tallgrass prairies were once more common in our area but have largely disappeared since settlement of the region. Tallgrass prairies require maintenance, including occasional controlled burns, to ensure that they are taken over by invasive and woody plants. The effort is worth it, as the plants, insects and other animals found in tallgrass prairies are often not found in many other places.

If you’re going to see if you can find the Common Buckeyes at Jack Darling, take some time to enjoy the tallgrass prairie and also look at the prairie wildflower garden, which supports many other butterfly species.

Posted on August 31, 2020 02:58 PM by lltimms