female Monarch butterfly
Have you ever gazed out of the kitchen window at your beautiful wildlife garden on a cold winter’s day? It looks so barren and lonely. Have you ever wondered where the butterflies go during this time of year?
As humans, we get to bundle up in our fuzzy flannels and spend the winter months indoors all snug in our homes, drinking hot chocolate. But what about the butterflies – our delicate winged wonders?
To Stay or to Go…that is the question
The gradual arrival of cooler nights, combined with the shorter daylight hours of the autumn season, signals all members of the insect kingdom to prepare for the onset of winter. Many of us are familiar with the most famous traveler of the butterfly family, the Monarch. The Monarch butterflies in North America that emerge during the fall season do not attempt to find a mate. Instead, they eat as much nectar as they can, in order to store up energy reserves in their body. Then those that were born East of the Rocky Mountains fly south all the way to Mexico to spend the winter in a warmer climate.
Painted Lady
Red Admiral
There are other butterflies that also head south for the winter, but they usually only go as far as Texas or Florida. Among these are the Painted Lady, Red Admiral, Buckeye, and American Lady butterflies. When the weather warms up in the spring these butterflies travel back up to the northern states.
Buckeye
American Lady
Butterflies have four stages of development during their life cycle – egg, caterpillar, chrysalis and adult. A few will tough it out through the winter months as an egg, caterpillar or adult butterfly. But, the majority of the ones that do not head south for the winter will stay put and hibernate in the form of a chrysalis. Swallowtail butterflies use this winter survival technique. They spend all winter as a dormant chrysalis.
Pipevine Swallowtail
Pipevine Swallowtail
Reduced temperatures and shorter day length trigger the bodies of some butterflies to produce different enzymes and chemicals essential for their winter survival, no matter what form they’re in when they hibernate. But many species of butterflies cannot survive temperatures below freezing in any stage of their development. So if they are not yet adults that can fly south to escape winter weather, they will die.
Question Mark butterfly
A select few butterflies will spend the entire winter in their adult stage, slowing down their metabolism to hibernate during the harsh winter season. They hide in sheltered areas including under loose tree bark, in wood piles, and other protected places. Some examples of these species are the Question Mark butterfly, the Mourning Cloak, and the Comma butterfly. You may even see one of these butterflies venture out on mild winter days in search of sweet tree sap to drink that melts in the sunshine. They will also sun themselves on rocks or while clinging upside-down on the side of a tree.
Mourning Cloak
Comma butterfly
Woodpiles are another handy place for these three species of butterflies to hide during cold weather. It is also a site chosen by some swallowtail caterpillars to form their chrysalis. Some homeowners have been surprised to find a butterfly flying around their house in the winter when they store some logs inside their house. When a swallowtail chrysalis warms up it many only take a week or two for the butterfly to be tricked into thinking spring has arrived, and emerge from its winter slumber to fly around your warm house.
wood pile
© 2012, Judy Burris. All rights reserved. This article is the property of BeautifulWildlifeGarden.com If you are reading this at another site, please report that to us
About Judy Burris
Judy I have always wondered about these beauties in winter. I try not to clean up because of this possibility. I love seeing the commas in early spring once they emerge.
Donna@Gardens Eye View recently posted..Gardens Eye Journal-December 2012
I think it is so amazing that such a delicate creature can survive harsh winters, emerging in the spring as if nothing happened. The first ones we see are usually the mourning cloaks warming themselves on rocks in our gardens.
Nice post Judy! In fact I had several butterflies fluttering around today including a Cloudless Sulphur. I always think it must be hard on these creatures when we have freezing nights and then 70+ degree day temperatures.
SouthernMeadows recently posted..Gardening with a Purpose
Thank you
I am also still seeing the Sulphur butterflies on occasion.
It’s in the 60′s here today in northern Kentucky.
What a great post! Very informative and beautiful photos
Rebecca recently posted..Bald Eagles!
Thank you Rebecca !
Stunning photos, Judy! I often see Mourning Cloaks out and about on a warm, sunny January afternoon, and what a blessing that is to see a beautiful butterfly in the middle of winter.
Carole Sevilla Brown recently posted..The 5 Pillars of Ecosystem Gardening
Thank you Carole
As soon as it is warm enough for sap to run we see Question Mark butterflies on our trees.
Excellent info and beautiful photos as usual Judy! The markings on the American Lady underwings are so intricate..
Ellen Sousa recently posted..Use Your Weeds! Violets as Groundcover
Thanks Ellen!
Pretty Butterflies and photos. I’m enjoying the ones that are returning now. Thanks for sending them back
Buckeyes and American Ladies seem to leave us during the summer, as do a few others.
I saw some Pepperweed growing (dies back in summer)…so I am crossing my fingers than The Great Southern White will show up, given that its larval host is back.
Loret T. Setters recently posted..Army Lives!
Hey, I wonder if anyone has ever thought of tagging Buckeyes to see how far they go
I’m already looking forward to spring!
I have my first spicebush swallowtail in a tank that had to be moved from house to garage to outside. I wonder if it will survive to eclose next spring…I did plant a spicebush as I wanted to host them.. Longest house guest I have ever had….Michelle
Rambling Woods recently posted..Happy Hanukkah!
Hi Michelle,
I love swallowtails! I have several spicebush swallowtails waiting in a screen-top fish tank to eclose in the spring. They are very hardy and have a high survival rate here in Kentucky.
Judy..I am a novice gardener and am trying to learn. We have a Monarch Way Station and I have raised monarch for only 2 seasons and I am not sure I am doing the right thing for this little spicebush…
my spicebush adventure
http://ramblingwoods.com/raising-a-spicebush-swallowtail-butterfly/
Michelle
Rambling Woods recently posted..Why Do We Humans View The Planet As For Our Personal Use Only?
Looks to me like you did a perfect job with your spicebush caterpillar. As long as the chrysalis stays cold all winter, the butterfly should emerge just fine in the spring. Sometimes it helps to spritz them with water once or twice a week to make sure they don’t dehydrate, if they are not exposed to snow and rain naturally.
Great photos and information, Judy. I get a good feelings as I think of butterfly eggs, caterpillars chrysalises and possibly a few adults surviving winter’s cold in our backyard. Some species staying for the winter and others migrating reminds me of nature’s many mysterious ways of surviving.
Betty Hall recently posted..Frost flowers on white crownbeard
Thank you Betty! Isn’t it amazing how something that seems so fragile can withstand more brutal weather conditions than we ever could?
This past summer, I really worked hard at documenting all the butterfly species found in my neck of the woods here in Eastern Iowa.
I had no clue that we had Mourning Cloaks here let alone that they winter here.
I’m not sure what the temperature has to be for them to come out in the wintertime but I would love seeing one this winter!
Kevin J Railsback recently posted..Wolves Keep the Ecosystem in Balance
Hey Kevin,
I’ve seen them out on sunny days with temps as low as 55 degrees in Feb.
I hope you spot one this winter!