Photo of the Week: Fiery Skipper Butterfly

Small orange butterfly with dark brown spots pauses on the dirt, scraggly green grass in the background.

It’s a small butterfly.

And when you’ve found a life bird, a bird you’ve never seen before, you might not notice a small butterfly that lights on the ground 10 feet in front of you as you carry your spotting scope and binoculars after a 1 1/2 mile trek on a late summer afternoon.

Continue reading Photo of the Week: Fiery Skipper Butterfly

Photo of the Week: The Endangered Migratory Monarch Butterfly

Bright orange and black butterfly lights on a yellow dandelion flower, green blurred field in the background.

When I was growing up, seeing a Monarch butterfly was something I took for granted.

I would see the brilliant orange and black butterflies on a daily basis throughout the summer.

Monarchs were common in our yard, stopping on brightly-colored flowers to sip nectar. I remember chasing them with a butterfly net, rarely being to catch one.

Never in my mind would I have thought one day Monarchs would be considered endangered.

Yet, that’s what happened this month when the International Union for the Conservation of Nature added the migratory monarch butterfly to its Red List of threatened species.

The migratory Monarch butterfly is now considered an endangered species.

Continue reading Photo of the Week: The Endangered Migratory Monarch Butterfly

Photo of the Week: Canadian Tiger Swallowtail Butterfly

Yellow butterfly with black stripes, hindwings with blue on the border.

Today was perfect spring weather in southeast Michigan: sunny with clear blue skies and cooler temperatures so I enjoyed hiking a trail in the early morning at one of my favorite birding locations.

As I finished my hike, a flutter of yellow color caught the corner of my eye. Continue reading Photo of the Week: Canadian Tiger Swallowtail Butterfly