Yesterday was a beautiful spring-like day and I went on a long hike at Prince William Forest Park, the largest protected natural area in the Washington, D.C. metropolitan region at over 16,000 acres. It felt like the perfect weather for finding dragonflies, but it is still a bit too early for them.
I was, however, quite excited to get my first shots this year of a butterfly, an Eastern Comma (Polygonia comma). I saw my first butterfly, which was probably of the same species, a couple of weeks ago, but was unable to react quickly enough to take its photo, so it did not “count.” During yesterday’s hike, I spotted six or seven of these little butterflies, but only the first one was cooperative enough to stay still for a portrait.
Eastern Comma butterflies are members a small group of butterflies in our area that emerge in the autumn and overwinter as adults. Other species in that group including the similar-looking Question Mark butterfly (Polygonia interrogationis) and the Mourning Cloak butterfly (Nymphalis antiopa). When its wings are open, like the one in the photo, it is easy to tell that a butterfly is an Eastern Comma if it has three dark spots in a row on each of its front wings, rather than the four spots found on a Question Mark. (For more information about the two similar species, I recommend a wonderful article at trekohio.com entitled “Butterflies That Punctuate: The Eastern Comma and the Question Mark.”)
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.
Mike Powell 
awesome photo I adore butterflies
Depending on how you calculate it, spring is either here or will soon be. I hope to be featuring more colorful butterflies and dragonflies in the upcoming months as they reappear–I too love butterflies.
Nice Mike! Yes, soon we will have more of some of our favorite photo subjects!
I was hoping to see one yesterday too! It makes me excited because photography in the winter tires me.
[…] via First spring butterfly — Mike Powell […]
This one looks like it’s doing some yoga, or at least some pushups, so it might actually be a closet exclamation point!
I think the butterfly realizes that it will soon be beach season in this hemisphere and wants to be sure that he/see looks good. 🙂
Nice one Mike! Still waiting for the temps to go up a bit then I may see my first.
Thanks. It has been surprising warm this “winter”–on the day I spotted this butterfly it was 64 degrees (18 degrees C).
First and very beautiful !
Thanks, Chris. With a little luck there will be plenty more to follow in the upcoming months.
Beautiful!
This is a gorgeous butterfly — lucky you to spot it! I was thinking of you last weekend when I saw my first dragonflies of the year. The swallows have arrived, too. It won’t be long until you’re in full spring, yourself.
Gorgeous. Here’s to many more!
The color does have an autumn look to it. We’ve been having some nice hiking weather. I think this early spring might be real, Mike.
I’m hoping for a little snow, enough to push us over one inch for the winter–we are sitting at six-tenth of an inch at the moment. 🙂
I’d like that too. We are in the 35″ range, but most of it fell in December. It’s been bare brown for two months.
So the butterfly should actually be called the Eastern Ellipsis Points.
I love it, Nina. We might as well use all available punctuation marks for the butterfly species.
Congratulations on your first of what will be many as spring blossoms and all our tiny little friends return for our enjoyment and their furtherance of their species. On warm evenings we’ve had a few moths flitting about our lights but still too early for most. With luck this weekend will prove me a liar. 🙂 Nice shots, Mike.