Farmland Butterflies

     Several kinds of butterflies live in Lancaster County farmland as caterpillars and adults because both those stages of their life cycles get food in that human-made habitat.  These butterfly species are common because of the abundance of their foods.  Each type of caterpillar has a specific food or foods, but all the adults visit alfalfa and red clover flowers in hay fields, and various blossoms along country roads during July into early October.
     Monarch butterflies are one of the more famous of butterflies because of their annual migrations.  Monarchs have large, orange wings with dark streaking.  The third generation of female monarchs of each year lay eggs singularly on various kinds of milkweed plants in meadows and along rural roadsides in the local area.  And it's the fourth generation that makes that miraculous trip to certain forests in Mexico to spend the winter in comparative warmth.
     Silver-spotted skipper larvae feed on soybean leaves in this county.  Those caterpillars have fake, orange "eyes" on their brown heads that, presumably, scare away would-be predators.  Skippers are so-named for their quick, erratic flight.  The silver-spotted species is mostly brown with a white spot on each front wing.   
     Least skippers are small, yellow butterflies commonly living low among vegetation along country roads.  Their caterpillars consume grass, which is abundant along those roads, and the adults visit chicory, clover and other blooms along those byways.
     The larvae of cabbage white butterflies, which are originally from Europe, eat members of the mustard family, including species of wild mustards in fields.  Cabbage whites are those abundant, little, white butterflies we see in red clover and alfalfa hay fields and in flower gardens, particularly toward the end of summer.
     Yellow sulphur butterflies are also from Europe.  Their caterpillars feed on clover leaves and the foliage of other kinds of legumes.  Yellow sulphurs join cabbage white butterflies, in abundance, among alfalfa and red clover blooms in hay fields close to the end of summer.  Thousands of individuals of both kinds, flitting from flower to flower, make those hay fields quite lively and lovely.  Whole fields seem to flutter.
      Pearl crescent butterflies are a small, orange and brown-mottled species that are seen most commonly among aster blossoms late in summer and into autumn.  As larvae, they feed on aster stems and leaves, pupate in the asters and emerge as adults. 
     American painted ladies are beautifully colored and patterned butterflies.  They have brown, pink and pale blue in their wings.  Their caterpillars ingest the leaves of thistles and burdocks, which are common in fields and along country roads.
     Watch for these butterflies and their immature forms on the mentioned plants in farmland.  They make that human-made habitat the more interesting.