The amount of orange on the eastern tailed-blue butterfly varies. Urine is likely to have attracted this crowd for its high concentration of salts and minerals that butterflies need in their diet. Photo: Lisa Brown
It’s 4:45 a.m. on a May morning. An eastern whip-poor-will speaks his name insistently and a distant male responds, declaring his territory as well. Both are hopeful as they seek to attract mates. The female makes only a sharp “quirt” response and a clap of its wings. One male is a mere 20 feet from me. Eventually he flushes and flutters against the side of my blind, giving me a real start. It reminds me that the English name for a blind is a “hide,” and I assume I was too well hidden for this fellow.
Not to be outdone, a number of screech owls make their distinctive trill, but in this case the female vocalizes as well. It’s a spring duet. I envision the more diminutive male, a phenomenon referred to as reverse sexual dimorphism. His vocalizations are deeper than hers.
I know I will soon be fully awakened by the dawn song and then an eastern towhee obliges, nearly knocking me off a folding camp chair where I am perched. “Really, could you tone it down a bit?” I think. Sitting still on a balmy 60-degree Fahrenheit morning, versus the 50s of April, still requires a cup of Joe, which I have not lugged into the forest. Oh well, tough it out.
Around 5 a.m. turkeys begin to gobble from the roost. Females descend from their tree perches first and walk about pecking at forest morsels. The males are more cautious about their entry onto the forest floor. But once they arrive they strut their stuff, fanning their tails, angling them side to side, and slowly rotating, making sure the females get a good show. They do a small series of shuffling steps, stop, and spread their wings downward, dragging them on the ground.
The tom across from me is now simply fanning his tail on a hill’s crest, hidden partially by a tree’s trunk. He stays in the same spot, about 100 yards out of range. Then he walks over the crown and out of sight. His harem follows. He’s reluctant and has made a good decision.
I’m hoping one will come my way but alas, the clock’s hand moves as several hours pass, and the calls of real females are more seductive in attracting a tom than I. It’s the end of B week, the second week of turkey season, and my non-hunting comrades will be happy to know I’ve bagged none.
Hilltopping is a butterfly behavior in which butterflies seek a higher elevation in which to display. Height can be relative—in this nearly dried up puddle a stick is the high point. Darker gray color indicates this is likely a female. Photo: J. Morton Galetto
I return to songbird watching. Now my derrière is threatening mutiny; it’s time to go for a stroll. As I walk along I see fine lines in the sand where tom turkeys have been dragging their wings, and their feet have left imprints showing their three forward-pointing toes and shorter backward-facing toe.
The day is heating up and as I approach a nearly dried-up puddle it explodes with the flush of possibly 50 eastern tailed-blues, or Cupido comyntas. Cupid, the god of desire; these butterflies are rubbing their hindwings together to disseminate the pheromones that will attract a female. Ah, spring has sprung and everyone is getting into the act. The butterflies are puddling to access minerals on a damp impression on the dirt roadway. It’s a mud-puddle party (Sutton).
Learn how a “hair or tail” on a butterfly’s hind wing can be utilized as a lifesaving strategy. • TOP: Open-winged, the eastern tailed-blue male butterfly displays its brilliant iridescent blue. Photos: J. Morton Galetto
Initially, I mistake the eastern tailed-blue butterflies for spring azures but they are in a separate family known as the blues. They have a distinctive hair-like tail on their hind wing that is easily seen with binoculars or by getting down low to the ground—a move I’m sure to regret. Without binoculars I likely would not have appreciated the spectacular markings on the eastern tailed-blues because they travel so close to the ground.
I decide to return with a long camera lens and share more of its life history with you.
The blues are a group of butterflies that are very small, with narrow wings that span ¾ to 1 ¾ inches. When their wings are spread open they are usually blue although some females are a blackish brown. They will bask with their wings open and puddle with them closed, often rubbing their hind wings together. Beyond dispersing pheromones it is thought that the motion makes their hind wing tail look like moving antennae.
I contemplate this behavior further. Hairstreaks also rub their hind wings. Their hairs in conjunction with an eyespot (coloration) on their wing make it appear as if the butterfly has two heads. It is the motion of the hind wing that completes the deception—of antennae moving. If a predator attacks the hind wing the butterfly can still fly with a piercing there, but it will not survive a frontal attack to its head. Many butterflies and moths have the deceptive adaptation of an eyespot in their hind wing that protects them from assaults. The hair simply further completes the illusion (Montana Public Radio).
The lower edge of the hind wing in both sexes has one to three orange spots near their hair-like tail. But they are neither hairstreaks nor azures; they are blues. And most blues do not have the hair-like hindwing; only the eastern and western tailed-blues possess it.
Like many butterflies, the upper versus the lower wing looks like it belongs to two different animals. Sitting upon the mud most of the eastern tailed-blues are closed-wing, displaying a fan of spots and a silvery body. To my untrained eye, when their wings are closed the sexes look identical. Then one opens its wings and I see a deep purply blue shade on the male, or the more blackish brown tones on the female. I can’t help but think: Isn’t nature grand!
Three’s a crowd! Eastern tailed-blues, shown here mating. The male and female closed-wing are nearly identical. Photo: Judy Gallagher, Maryland, Flickr
An eastern tailed-blue butterfly’s underside is displayed when the wings are closed. Instead of a blue butterfly it becomes a very silvery specimen. Note the orange spots on the hindwings. Scissoring or rubbing the hindwings back and forth releases pheromones to attract females. Photo: J. Morton Galetto
These butterflies emerge in the spring, but unlike last week’s topical butterfly, the duskywing, that has but one brood, the eastern tailed-blue has four from spring to fall. The blue overwinters as full-grown larva. After laying its eggs the butterfly dies.
The blues’ larva feed on legumes—plants in the pea family with pod-like fruits. Lepidopterist David Wagner lists the legumes as “bush-clover, clover, lupine, pea vine, sweet clover, tick-trefoil and vetch.” Adults nectar on clovers, wild strawberry, winter cress, cinquefoils, and asters.
Eastern tailed-blues use many habitats, including moist meadows, desert foothills, stream banks, roadsides, and forest paths. They come to gardens and weedy fields. Their range is the eastern two-thirds of the United States and extends to the southern border of Canada. Sparse and spotty numbers exist in the west. They are one of our most common and abundant butterflies, but they are low-flying and inconspicuous. However, I’m sad to report butterfly numbers are declining.
You can help butterflies by using few to no pesticides on your property. People who like butterflies often provide nectar sources but neglect to offer host plants. Specific trees and plants are often the hosts for many butterflies. They have evolved to be specialists, each species on a specific plant or a specific few plants.
Spring has sprung and it’s a fantastic time to revel in nature.
Sources
Hairstreak Butterflies, Glenn Marangelo, Montana Public Radio.
Caterpillars of Eastern North America, David L. Wagner, 2005.
How to Spot Butterflies, Patricia Taylor Sutton and Clay Sutton, 1999.
Butterflies of New Jersey, A Guide to Their Status, Distribution, Conservation and Appreciation, Michael Gochfeld and Joanna Burger, 1997.
The Audubon Society Field Guide to North American Insects and Spiders, Milne, L. 1980.
