I spotted this pretty little Cabbage White butterfly (Pieris rapae) on 31 October at Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge. This is a relatively common butterfly that has a natural range across Europe, Asia, and North Africa. According to Wikipedia, it was accidentally introduced to Quebec, Canada, around 1860 and spread rapidly throughout North America.
Most of the time Cabbage Whites flit about so much as they forage that it is hard to get a good photo of one. This Cabbage White, however, paused for a moment to feed on a flowering plant and I was able to capture an action shot. If you click on the image, you can get even see the extended proboscis that the tiny butterfly was using to suck nectar from the center of the flower.
Cabbage Whites are one of the earliest butterflies to appear in the spring and generally are still in flight in the fall until we have a hard freeze. The weather has cooled considerably, but so far the temperatures have not fallen below the freezing level.
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.
Mike Powell 