Red Admiral Butterfly

Red Admiral Butterfly

American Lady Butterfly

American Lady Butterfly

Painted Lady Butterfly

Painted Lady Butterfly

West Cost Lady Butterfly

West Coast Lady Butterfly

This is a web site to coordinate observations of territorial behavior, migration, life history, population studies, seasonal variations in abundance and body size, and number of broods per year (voltinism) of butterflies in the genus Vanessa, including Vanessa atalanta, V. cardui, V. virginiensis, V. annabella, V. tameamea, and V. kershawi. (Red Admiral, Painted Lady, American Lady, West Coast Lady, Kamehameha Butterfly, and Australian Painted Lady).

Although the lady butterflies of the genus Vanessa are not as familiar or as well-studied as the Monarch (Danaus plexippus), their behavior and migration are likewise well worth observing. Much remains to be discovered about their habits and how their behavior and seasonal distribution varies by geographic location. Observers and experimenters ranging from casual to serious can discover new and valuable information about these butterflies. The list above links to more detailed information, including summaries of published findings and methods for observing these fascinating butterflies.


Royce J. Bitzer, Ph.D., Department of Plant Pathology, Entomology, & Microbiology, Room 504 Science II, 2310 Pammel Drive, Iowa State University, Ames, Iowa 50011, U.S.A.
Phone: (515) 451-9057   e-mail: mariposa@iastate.edu

This site was most recently updated on April 2, 2024.

Recent News

April 2, 2024

I spotted the first Red Admirals of the season in Ames, Iowa on March 30 – the earliest arrival date since 2012. On this sunny early afternoon, I was walking along a path in the woods behind our house, on the way to check two wildlife cameras, when I spotted the first of them basking on a bed of leaves. After watching and photographing it for some minutes, I continued along the path and then uphill toward the fox den that we were monitoring. While I was changing the batteries in the cameras, there was a dark brown flash – another Red Admiral, several times landing and flying short hops before disappearing to the northeast.

Upon returning to the initial spot, there was yet another Red Admiral with more wing wear than the first one. This butterfly seemed to be perching and patrolling the area. Finally, I saw a fourth Red Admiral in migratory straight-line flight toward the northeast.

These butterflies arrived shortly after a tongue of warm, moist air flowed toward us from the south. This raises the question of whether Red Admirals had been moving gradually northward during the past several weeks, or whether instead they had come abruptly northward for a long distance within just a few days. A series of first-of-season sightings along the migratory route therefore would be interesting.

Have Red Admirals actually been arriving here earlier in more recent years? Statistically, no – not yet anyway. First arrival times here typically vary widely from early April to mid-May with no definite trend in either direction. Even so, our unusually warm winter had me wondering if they might arrive early this year. Stinging nettles have also been sprouting earlier this year, so the new arrivals should not lack for larval food plants.

Whether or not they are arriving earlier, another possibility is that they might be overwintering farther north in recent years in response to the warming climate.

-- Royce Bitzer

August 23, 2023

Today, August 23, is Ukrainian National Flag Day, and tomorrow, August 24, is Ukrainian Independence Day, marking 32 years for Ukraine as an independent country.  

As my way of celebrating these Ukrainian national holidays, I encourage you to visit the iNaturalist project page, Lepidoptera of Ukraine.  Ukraine is quite the biodiverse country, from the montane conifer forest of the far western Carpathians to the central European mixed forest of the northwest, the forest steppe of the northeast, the open southern grassland steppes, and along the southern coast of Crimea, the Submediterranean Forest Complex.  This great diversity likely yields correspondingly diverse communities of butterflies and moths.

Last but not least, I've been amazed by how many Ukrainians have been posting observations on iNaturalist, despite the ongoing events of this terrible war.

-- Royce Bitzer

April 10, 2023

Spring has arrived here in Iowa, and so have the butterflies, including Red Admirals.  After the last three years with low numbers, it’s now looking like 2023 is going to be a more active, abundant, and exciting year for Red Admirals.  I’m still not sure how the Painted Lady population will develop this year, owing to the unusually intense and variable weather in California this past winter.

Red Admirals are now arriving in the upper Midwest, following two strong and very stormy weather systems that transported warm, moist air from the Gulf of Mexico into our area.  Red Admirals arrived soon afterward, with the first report from Omaha, Nebraska on April 4.  I spotted my first ones here in Ames, Iowa on April 7.  It’s likely they were here sooner, perhaps as early as March 31, but it was difficult to tell because cold weather followed each of the two frontal passages.  Since then, I’ve started receiving more reports from around the upper Midwest.

As always, I’m seeking not only first sightings of Vanessa species, but also sightings of migrating butterflies and sightings throughout the season.

-- Royce Bitzer, April 10, 2023

November 7, 2022

Two updates:

All links to images on our site have been restored.  Links had been broken for the past several weeks as a consequence of switching the site to a different server.

We have a new mapping platform for our interactive map - Leaflet.  Leaflet is based on Open Street Map and was created by Volodymyr Agafonkin, a Ukrainian citizen from Kyiv.  More information about Leaflet can be found here.  The available map formats include a street map and a terrain map, with the terrain map as the default setting.

--Royce Bitzer, November 7, 2022

 

September 26, 2022

A southward Painted Lady migration has been underway in central Iowa for at least the past three days. After a summer with none observed here, a few appeared in late August into mid-September, and then recently, larger numbers arrived after September 21. Although most have been spotted nectaring, several have been seen flying southward after the passage of a cool front on September 24. As of today, September 26, winds continue blowing from northerly directions, carrying Painted Ladies southward at heights of from 5 to 10 meters/15 to 30 feet.

--Royce Bitzer, September 26, 2022