The Butterflies of the World Foundation
A Non-
15 July 2010
Bryan was able to get out for a five day photography trip from southwestern Missouri down through the eastern edge of Oklahoma. His film has arrived, the slides scanned and the highlights are loaded on the website.
A few Regal Fritillaries were flying at Prairie State Park near Joplin, Missouri.
It’s always exciting to see this vanishing butterfly. Heading south into Oklahoma,
Bryan next explored the Ouachita National Forest. Some particularly productive sites
were Cedar Lake and Beech Creek. At Cedar Lake, the button bush was blooming and
attracting many species. Some that Bryan photographed were the Pipevine Swallowtail
and American Lady. The trails at Beech Creek required four-
Southern Cloudywing, and two new species for Bryan, the Spicebush Swallowtail and the stunning Diana Fritillary. The latter species is interesting for its sexual dimorphism. The females are a stunning blue while the males are orange. Bryan got a lucky shot of a female in flight.
After Beech Creek, Bryan proceeded to the Little River National Wildlife Refuge near
Broken Bow, Oklahoma. Out in large numbers were both Southern and Creole Pearly-
Other news from the BOTWF:
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Female Diana Fritillary
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That’s all the news for now.
All photographs, artwork, text and website design are the property of The Butterflies of the World Foundation (unless otherwise stated) and are protected under national and international copyright laws. Photographs, artwork or text on this website may not be reproduced in any way without prior written consent of The Butterflies of the World Foundation.
15 August 2010
It’s been busy, butterfly speaking, at the BOTWF. Bryan was able to get out several times for photos. One of his favorite places is the Wichita Mountains National Wildlife Refuge where he photographed Black Swallowtails, a Bordered Patch, a Queen,
and an ovipositing Western Pygmy-
He also went out several times to the Lexington Wildlife Management Area. Highlights photographed were a Queen ovipositing on milkweed and a shot of the egg. There were also several Eastern Tiger Swallowtails, including some dark morph females, nectaring off button bush along a lake. The grass skippers were out in full force and Bryan got more coverage of many species including Sachems, Delaware Skippers, Fiery Skippers, Dun Skippers, Least Skippers and Arogos Skippers where he photographed a female basking in the jet airplane pose. Out of all his encounters with Arogos Skippers, he rarely sees one “airplaning.”
Bryan was able to add another species to his photographed list, the Outis Skipper.
documented in his home state of Oklahoma, but after five years of searching, he never saw one until recently.
Upcoming events include:
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with pertinent data. The Skippers are next and with 56 species and hundreds of photos, this will take a while. After that, then each species page will be completed. Thanks for you patience. Once this part of
the site is complete, it will be easier to maintain as new species are added.
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That’s all the news for now. Check back in a couple weeks for some images from New Mexico.
This species has been
10 September 2010
Wow, what a busy month it’s been. Several emails were received with complements regarding the website and especially the photography. Thank you all for your kind words. There’s also been some great feedback on some incorrectly identified species, namely the Painted Ladies and Cloudywings. Thanks to the experts who helped get those straightened out. If you are an expert with a particular
group, please provide feedback and especially notify us if you see any errors.
Bryan and Laura were able to get out for a photography trip to New Mexico. They were able to find and photograph seven new species and got more coverage of species already on file. The new species includes the Hoary Comma, Colorado Hairstreak, Canyonland Satyr, Tailed Copper,
They got more coverage of the Funereal Duskywing, Weidemeyer’s Admiral, Common
Checkered-
More news includes:
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Blanchard, Oklahoma at the public library on 24 September from 1900-
Oklahoma Bioblitz 2010 near Ponca City, Oklahoma on 9 October from 1300-
And finally, the daunting task of completing the species treatments continues. Bryan has
finished the photo labels for all of the images. Now, those of you who have been
patiently waiting for dates, locals, etc., now have that information. The next task is to finish the actual species treatments. Hopefully, this will be done soon. That’s all the news for now.
12 October 2010
It’s been a month since the last update and a lot has happened since then. Bryan gave two talks which were very well received. The first was at the public library in Blanchard, Oklahoma on 24 September, and the second was at the Oklahoma Bio Blitz at Kaw Lake and Camp McFadden near Ponca City, Oklahoma on 9 October. There were passionate ‘butterfliers’ at both. At the Bio Blitz talk a troop of Girl Scouts were present with tons of great questions and observations. The Blanchard talk was held in conjunction with the annual Monarch Migration Festival which was held two miles east of Cole, Oklahoma on 2 October. Bryan attended and it was really nice to see the youngsters with butterfly face paintings and butterfly wings attached to their backs.
Bryan was finally able to meet Marilyn Stewart who owns Wild Things Nursery. She specializes in native plants and has many butterfly larval food plants as well as native nectar sources. She comes highly recommended and her website is here.
Ray gave three presentations to the Richmond Elementary School in Stillwater, Oklahoma which were highly enjoyed by all.
Bryan was also able to help at the fall Pontotoc Ridge Preserve butterfly count. He’s photographed most of the resident Oklahoma species, but on this particular day, he was able to get two new ones, the Great Purple Hairstreak, and the Green Skipper. The preserve is
a great place which is owned by the Nature Conservancy and BOTWF highly recommends a visit. These two new species brings the total North American species on this site to 171. This includes a few rare
strays which were not photographed in North America, but are occasionally found there.
These include the Tiger Mimic-
Bryan was able to get out a few times to the Lexington Wildlife Management Area and
other areas for some photography. New images were obtained of the Gulf Fritillary,
Pearl Crescent (one getting captured by a Black and Yellow Argiope), Common Buckeye,
Delaware Skipper, Tawny-
If you’ve been reading the news updates, you probably noticed
the Encylocmedia Conference was mentioned as something BOTWF was going to be present at. Unfortunately, due to a schedule conflict, this year was missed. We look forward to participating next
year.
Bryan and Laura are looking forward to their trip to the Lower Rio Grande Valley the last week in October. Four presentations and one butterfly walk have been scheduled. Please check the October calendar for more details. Hopefully, the next news update will include several new species from that area.
And finally, the species treatments are still plugging along. We anticipate, once colder weather sets in, this will be done in short order.
See you in the field!
19 November 2010
It’s been another busy month for The Butterflies of the World Foundation. Numerous
emails have been received asking about the trip Bryan and Laura took to the Lower
Rio Grande Valley during the last week of October. Four presentations and two butterfly
walks were given to eager crowds at three different locations in the Valley. They
met many people with a passion for butterflies and made many friends. They have
been invited back for next year and hope to make this an annual event every October. 
The area is a true butterfly lover’s paradise. Almost around every turn there was something new. And what everyone wants to know is what did Bryan photograph? Well, he got a total of 31 new species and more coverage of 7 species that were already on file. Some of the standouts from species already covered were two male Giant Swallowtails courting a female and a Clouded Skipper being consumed by a Mexican Unicorn Mantis. And for the new species...here’s the list not in any particular order:
In other news, on 4 November, Bryan gave a presentation to the Cleveland County Audubon Society at the Sam Noble Museum of Natural History in Norman, Oklahoma, which was well received. Also, plans are now in the works to send Bryan to Coppermine, Northwest Territories, to photograph high Arctic butterflies in July 2011 with Professor Ronald Royer. And finally, more progress has been made adding species accounts to this site. As the weather turns colder, more time will be dedicated to completing this project. Also, the slide show has been updated with recent Texas butterflies. We hope you enjoy the new Lower Rio Grande Valley additions. Please let us know what you think or if you notice any errors. Have a happy Holidays.
NEWS ARCHIVE 2010