Buttterflies pollinating white-fringed orchis
Steven Daniel
This year in the north country butterfly numbers appear low in general. Today I was pleasantly surprised by some interesting sightings.
A short digression: a couple of years ago around this time in July a friend and I visited an Adirondack bog that was filled with thousands of white-fringed orchis. We noticed 5 different species of butterflies visiting the orchid. As we were leaving I noticed a dun skipper whose head had these yellow structures that it slowly dawned on me that they were the pollinia of white-fringed orchids. Orchids are unique (along with milkweeds) in generally holding their pollen grains together in a mass called a pollinium. The pollinium gets attached to a pollinating visitor by means of a sticky structure called a viscidium.
Later I looked at my photos and discovered that an Atlantis fritillary also had its face covered with pollinia. This pic was taken July 20, 2023.
Meena Madhav Haribal
Dragonfly book sample pages:
https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B1ngrZelDNo5QnFDMl9BdVNlLXc
Road Trip to Africa Book Preview https://drive.google.com/file/d/1KsoxFFcMNSck8y_qpxNHqefq4iL-VSSS/view?usp=sharing
Sent: Friday, July 18, 2025 9:58 PM
To: nyleps <nyl...@googlegroups.com>
Cc: Steven Daniel <nat...@gmail.com>
Subject: [nyleps] Buttterflies pollinating white-fringed orchis
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "New York Leps" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to NYleps+un...@googlegroups.com.
To view this discussion visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/NYleps/D63CB430-0F1C-4305-B2C3-70044B84680A%40gmail.com.
Today I visited a different Adirondack bog that also had loads of white-fringed orchis. And there were loads of dun skippers attracted to the flowers. Most of them had pollinia attached. This
one was the champ:
--
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "New York Leps" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to NYleps+un...@googlegroups.com.
To view this discussion visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/NYleps/D63CB430-0F1C-4305-B2C3-70044B84680A%40gmail.com.
This dun skipper got an honorable mention :
--
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "New York Leps" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to NYleps+un...@googlegroups.com.
To view this discussion visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/NYleps/D63CB430-0F1C-4305-B2C3-70044B84680A%40gmail.com.
There were a couple of Delaware skippers as well
--
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "New York Leps" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to NYleps+un...@googlegroups.com.
To view this discussion visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/NYleps/D63CB430-0F1C-4305-B2C3-70044B84680A%40gmail.com.
And a single northern broken dash
--
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "New York Leps" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to NYleps+un...@googlegroups.com.
To view this discussion visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/NYleps/D63CB430-0F1C-4305-B2C3-70044B84680A%40gmail.com.
Also quite a few bog coppers, but they never visited the orchid.
--
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "New York Leps" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to NYleps+un...@googlegroups.com.
To view this discussion visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/NYleps/D63CB430-0F1C-4305-B2C3-70044B84680A%40gmail.com.
Steven Daniel
Edwards, NY
--
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "New York Leps" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to NYleps+un...@googlegroups.com.
To view this discussion visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/NYleps/D63CB430-0F1C-4305-B2C3-70044B84680A%40gmail.com.
Richard Cech
Yes, Steven, nice, illustrative shots!
To view this discussion visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/NYleps/SA0PR04MB7212706D8419E332E8BD3AD98E53A%40SA0PR04MB7212.namprd04.prod.outlook.com.
Colleen Wolpert
N. Broken-dash skippers seem to be having a good year. Seeing more than ever. I had a fresh White Admiral in my driveway today. Rarely a Monarch. The Snout continues to zip through the yard and patrol the driveway. If it had not landed so I could take a photo, I would have sworn it was male Spongy moth due its behavior. Azures popped here today, too, enjoying the gravel that was wet from the hose I was using. Finally a good number of Pearl Crescents after low numbers early in the season.
Wild Bergamot is drawing in a nice variety of skippers, Tiger Swallowtails, Wild Indigo DW, and at last 3 Snowberry Clearwings.
Lots of moths to upload to iNaturalist from my moth sheet tonight, so better get stated.
Happy National Moth Week!!
Colleen Wolpert
Apalachin, NY
From: nyl...@googlegroups.com <nyl...@googlegroups.com> On Behalf Of Meena Madhav Haribal
Sent: Saturday, July 19, 2025 8:01 PM
To: Steven Daniel <nat...@gmail.com>; nyleps <nyl...@googlegroups.com>
To view this discussion visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/NYleps/SA0PR04MB7212706D8419E332E8BD3AD98E53A%40SA0PR04MB7212.namprd04.prod.outlook.com.
