elisekoehncke's Favourites

At least a dozen and maybe as many as 18 of these very large birds were circling in the thermoclines for at least 15 minutes, mostly near to Ridge Road but all the way over to Dellwood Drive. Large enough to be turkey vultures.

The Lesser Purple Emperor males differ from the females by a stunning luminous blue-violet purple on the wing upper side, a beautiful sight of incredible, iridescent color that changes with the angle of view or the angle of illumination, producing nature's rarest spectacle of color of the two types, absorption & scattering.

This one landed on my shoe! I was astounded! Of all things! When I got home I looked it up: the clytie form for this species has a clear postdiscal band on the hindwing and several light spots on the forewing; the orange stripes on top of its wings along with the male's blue-violet purple wingtop sheen (a hint just barely visible on the right upper wing, illustrating the angular dependence of the purple reflection) distinctly differentiate it from butterflies of the nominal form ilia, which have white instead of orange stripes.

The lesser purple emperor, named for its similarity to the purple emperor butterfly, is a species of butterfly native to most of Europe and east across the Palearctic. With these Lepidoptera, the namesake purple is visible at certain light angles, e.g., only one side at a time; however, sometimes the Lesser Purple Emperor holds it's wings at such an angle that the entire surface is flushed with shimmering blue-violet purple.

During rest, the proboscis (equated to a "tongue", a tube-like feeding structure) remains coiled tightly against the head; however, when the butterfly feeds, the proboscis unfurls via muscular contraction and a hydraulic, step-wise mechanism. The Lesser Purple Emperor Apatura ilia has an 'eye' on the upper side of the upper wing, a less defined pattern on the underside, and bright yellow antennae tips; its look-alike the Purple Emperor Apatura iris does not.

A. ilia flies from May to September in one or two generations, frequeting tree summits, descending only to find moisture, honeydew shrubs, or tasty dining experiences (which differ between the sexes: sweets and tree sap for females, more potent protein and mineral sources for males, fond of cheese, over-ripe fruit, sweat, and excrement, and, in case you are wondering, yes, I did indeed then wash my hands).

Powdery scales on the wings of the male butterfly Apatura ilia under optical microscopy reveal parallel fibers with a spacing of about 710 nm; these fibers, together with tiny transverse grooves, cause violet blue or blue iridescence due to interference of light on the wings that ordinarily have brown pigmentation, establishing the dependence of the sudden color changes on variable illumination and observation angle.

I used my skin moist with perspiration to invite this male Lesser Purple Emperor onto my fingertip; he eagerly accepted the invitation (the males look for salts and minerals that help them attract females).

Observe an insect, the Lesser Purple Emperor, in the form clytie (here): he reaches an admirably impressive size and is readily identified by his fast flight, the orange background of the wings, and the bright purple iridescent sheen only visible under a certain angle of observation due to the tridimensionnal periodic structure of the wing scales, which turn this beautiful butterfly into a flying diffraction grating.

The Lesser Purple Emperor is a fascinating butterfly; two forms of this species exist – the blue form ilia, and the orange-brown form clytie – the equilibrium between the occurrence of the two forms varies by region. Here is a different form of the Lesser Purple Emperor (Apatura ilia), the Apatura ilia f. clytie: this variety has reddish spots and bands instead of white.

Lepidoptera (from Ancient Greek lepís "scale" + pterón "wing") is an order of insects, one of the most widespread and widely recognizable insect orders in the world, that includes butterflies and moths: both are called lepidopterans. Lepidopteran species are characterized by more than three derived features: the most apparent is the presence of scales covering the bodies, wings, & a proboscis (here uncoiled to sip my sweat).

Purple emperor species use willows, principally Goat willow; the Lesser Purple Emperor uses poplars as well, especially Populus tremula, for their caterpillars to feed, a good reason to grow Goat willow; even if you don’t have any Purple Emperor species where you are, these trees will attract some other species of butterfly.

I was feeling blessed, having these five fleeting minutes, wishfully anticipating hopes of possibly even a little more time to enjoy such an unanticipated surprisingly close encounter with this delightful butterfly on my fingertip – at the same time trying to figure out how to capture even one sharp photo approaching WOW factor with the Nikon in my other hand – when just at that moment a woman came along the street and up to me, then hit the butterfly with her cell phone case cover, and walked away!

Jetzt habe ich erst das Glück, die rötlich schimmernde Form Rotschiller zu sehen und zu fotografieren, bin ganz begeistert von diesen schönen Faltern, auch aber sehr dankbar, diese rötliche Farbe kenne ich noch nicht. Rotschiller: So werden die Schillerfalter dieser Form mit den gelb-roten Binden (anstatt der rein weißen) auch genannt – die wissenschaftliche Bezeichnung ist Apatura ilia f. clytie.

Apatura ilia, auch als Kleiner Schillerfalter, Le Petit Mars oder Lesser Purple Emperor bezeichnet ist ein Schmetterling der Paläarktis (Schwerpunkt Europa) und gehört zur Familie der Nymphalidae (Edelfalter); mit Ausnahme der Spitze besitzt das Männchen darüber hinaus eine blaue Strukturfarbe, die namensgebend ist.

Bei allen Männchen und nur bei diesen schillern die Flügeloberseiten bei geeignetem Einfallswinkel des Sonnenlichtes blau, ansonsten zeigen sich die Flügeloberseiten in der jeweiligen Grundfarbe, wie das bei den Weibchen stets der Fall ist.

Kleiner Schillerfalter, Farbvariante "clytie" (Apatura ilia f. clytie): Die normale Variante sieht so aus – je nach Lichtwinkel braun bis blau – ein sehr schöner Schmetterling; Die Weibchen ernähren sich vom Honigtau der Blattläuse und von Baumsäften, während die Männchen wohl Eiweißverbindungen für ihre lange (14 Tage) Reifung der Spermien benötigen, suchen die Weibchen nach Kohlenhydraten (Zucker).

Der Kleine Schillerfalter: Die Falter kommen in der Grundfarbe als braun-weiße (Blauschiller) und als rötlichbraune Form (Rotschiller) vor, wobei die Flächen der Flügeloberseiten schillern bei den Männchen blau. Die Fühlerspitzen sind leuchtend gelb.

Kleiner Schillerfalter mit seinem so wunderschön eingerollten Saugrüssel, dann beim Aufsaugen von menschlichem Schweiß in Babenhausen (Hessen): Für die männliche Falter stehen auch Schweiß (und Käse) hoch in ihrer Gunst.

Oberseite: Kleiner Schillerfalter – rötliche Form Apatura ilia f. clytie, auf meinem Finger, und zwar in der Altstadt von Babenhausen, neben einem Haus (Schloßgasse 13) Mitte zwischen Backhausgasse und Im Fronhof. Der kleine Schillerfalter ist eine besonders schöne Tagfalterart; die durch Interferenz erzeugten Schillerfarben (blau) ist ein besonderes Kennzeichen der Schillerfalter, aber nur bei Männchen (Geschlechtsunterschied: Das Weibchen besitzt keine blaue Strukturfarbe). Eine zweite Form des Kleinen Schillerfalters – Apatura ilia f. clytie – in Vergleich zur Stammform Apatura ilia f. ilia, bei dieser Form aber ist die Grundfarbe der Flügeloberseiten rötlich-braun, die hellen Flecken sind vor allem an den Flügelrändern deutlich rötlicher gefärbt und nicht weiß wie bei der Stammform; wegen der rötlichen Grundfarbe wird diese Form etwas irreführend als „Rotschiller“ bezeichnet, obwohl die Männchen auch bei dieser Form blau schillern. Kleiner Schillerfalter, die etwas abweichend gefärbte Form "clytia", Flügelunterseite (die Unterseite von Apatura ilia ist hellbraun eingefärbt); der Kleine Schillerfalter gehört zur Familie der Edelfalter.

Birders in the Triangle area of the North Carolina Piedmont were recently thrilled to have a visit from a migrating Kirtland's Warbler (Setophaga kirtlandii), an endangered (or at least vulnerable) species. This bird was found 27 September 2020 in an easily accessible area below the Jordan Lake Dam in Chatham County, North Carolina. I visited the site on 28 September and it was still there. At one point it fed in a redbud tree right next to the site's parking lot.

Does anybody know what this is. There is a ring around it’s neck but it’s not a ring neck. I’m thinking an oddly colored southeastern crowned or a rough earth with a neck band. I’m thinking rough earth though because of the keeled scales