While out in the woods, yesterday, an orange blur caught my eye. It flew purposefully and more parallel, so I knew it wasn't a leaf! It landed not too far away, and with the aid of the 12x zoom on my super fun Canon S3 IS camera, I was able to identify it as a Comma butterfly. 
Commas are very similar in appearance to Question Mark butterflies, but Commas have a more "chiseled" look to the edges of their wings. Both are so named for the silvery markings on their outer hind wings.
My author friend and former neighbor, Allie Pleiter, gleefully dubbed them the "Punctuation Butterflies", but they are better known as anglewings. Overwintering in the adult (butterfly) stage, they can sometimes be seen flying or sunning themselves on those warmer, sunnier days.
Rotting fruit and tree sap are favorite foods, but they also will nectar at flowers.
A Mourning Cloak also graced us with its presence, but it flew too quickly and was gone before I could snap a picture of it. Commas, Question Marks, and Mourning Cloaks are all in the Brush-Footed (Nymphalidae) family. --LKR
Commas are very similar in appearance to Question Mark butterflies, but Commas have a more "chiseled" look to the edges of their wings. Both are so named for the silvery markings on their outer hind wings.
My author friend and former neighbor, Allie Pleiter, gleefully dubbed them the "Punctuation Butterflies", but they are better known as anglewings. Overwintering in the adult (butterfly) stage, they can sometimes be seen flying or sunning themselves on those warmer, sunnier days.
Rotting fruit and tree sap are favorite foods, but they also will nectar at flowers.
A Mourning Cloak also graced us with its presence, but it flew too quickly and was gone before I could snap a picture of it. Commas, Question Marks, and Mourning Cloaks are all in the Brush-Footed (Nymphalidae) family. --LKR
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