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.
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.
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.
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.
It takes patience to capture beautiful photographs like that!
Thanks. I’d say it takes equal parts of patience and luck.
The purple flowers peeking through the tear in the wing look absolutely psychedelic!
What a beautiful butterfly-I don’t think I’ve seen it. We’ve had a butterfly drought here this year, it seems.
It’s supposed to be “common” but it’s the first time that I ever saw one.
Gorgeous photos Mike. We had a couple of Buckeye butterflies very early this spring, but have seen none since.
it’s amazing it can still fly with such a tear in its wing!
It is amazing, but the butterfly seemed to have absolutely no problems with flying (and trust me, it was capable of quick take-offs).
[…] 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 […]