Uncommonly beautiful Common Buckeye

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Uncommonly beautiful Common Buckeye

August 25, 2012 by Mike Powell

I continue to be mystified by the names of the insects that I photograph. Yesterday I spotted this very striking butterfly that I later learned is called the Common Buckeye butterfly (Junonia coenia). What makes it common? If it’s so common, why have I never seen one before? The vivid colors and prominent eyespots make it anything but common to me.

Common Buckeye butterfly

Here’s another view of the butterfly. The internal tear in the wing makes it clear that it is the same specimen. If you want to learn more about the Common Buckeye, check out this article on the BugGuide website, which is rapidly becoming one of my favorite places to browse and research.

Common Buckeye butterfly

One interesting fact about the Common Buckeye is that it was featured on a 24-cent US postage stamp in 2006. If you want to see what the stamp looks like, visit the Arago website. Arago, named after François Arago, a 19th century French scientist and friend of James Smithson, is a resource of the Smithsonian National Postal Museum.

One of the nice things about living in the Washington, D.C. area is having access to the Smithsonian Museums, most of which have free admission.

Posted in Bugs, Flowers, Gardening, Insects, Nature, Photography | Tagged butterfly, Common Buckeye, Common Buckeye butterfly, Junonia coenia, pink flower, prominent eye spots, purple flower | 9 Comments

9 Responses

on August 25, 2012 at 1:53 pm | Reply Dr Anto Youssef

It takes patience to capture beautiful photographs like that!
- on August 25, 2012 at 2:08 pm | Reply Mike Powell
  
  Thanks. I’d say it takes equal parts of patience and luck.
on August 25, 2012 at 6:42 pm | Reply krikitarts

The purple flowers peeking through the tear in the wing look absolutely psychedelic!
on August 25, 2012 at 8:46 pm | Reply New Hampshire Gardener

What a beautiful butterfly-I don’t think I’ve seen it. We’ve had a butterfly drought here this year, it seems.
- on August 25, 2012 at 10:22 pm | Reply Mike Powell
  
  It’s supposed to be “common” but it’s the first time that I ever saw one.
on August 26, 2012 at 12:29 am | Reply Sue

Gorgeous photos Mike. We had a couple of Buckeye butterflies very early this spring, but have seen none since.
on August 26, 2012 at 5:40 pm | Reply Another Perspective Photography

it’s amazing it can still fly with such a tear in its wing!
- on August 26, 2012 at 6:01 pm | Reply Mike Powell
  
  It is amazing, but the butterfly seemed to have absolutely no problems with flying (and trust me, it was capable of quick take-offs).
on September 22, 2012 at 10:15 pm | Reply A common day « Mike Powell

[…] month ago I featured the Common Buckeye in a posting after my first encounter with this type of butterfly. Yesterday I was shooting in the middle of the […]