Posted in Autumn, Butterflies, Insects, Nature, Photography, wildlife, tagged Canon 50D, Common Buckeye, Common Buckeye butterfly, Junonia coenia, Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge, Tamron 150-600mm, Woodbridge VA on November 10, 2020| 14 Comments »
There are still a few butterflies flying around, like this beautiful Common Buckeye (Junonia coenia) that I spotted last week at Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge. Unlike most other butterflies that I have seen late in the season that were faded and tattered, this one seemed to be in perfect condition. As several of my Facebook friends noted, there is nothing “common” about the beauty of this butterfly.
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.
Posted in Butterflies, Insects, Nature, Photography, Summer, wildlife, tagged Canon 50D, Common Buckeye, Common Buckeye butterfly, Fort Belvoir VA, Jackson Miles Abbott Wetland Refuge, Junonia coenia, Tamron 180mm on August 8, 2020| 27 Comments »
What do you think of when you hear the word “common?” Although this term can refer simply to the frequency with which something is seen or experienced, it often has a derogatory connotation of inferiority. For that reason, I am often uncomfortable with the use of the word “common” in the name of many species.
I could easily argue, for example, that this Common Buckeye butterfly (Junonia coenia) that I spotted on Tuesday at Jackson Miles Abbott Wetland Refuge is uncommonly beautiful. The orange markings and wonderfully-colored eyespots make this a stunning butterfly. Yes, I see this species quite often, but its distinctive beauty never fails to take my breath away.
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.
Posted in Autumn, Butterflies, Insects, Nature, Photography, wildlife, tagged Canon 50D, Common Buckeye, Common Buckeye butterfly, Junonia coenia, Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge, Tamron 150-600mm, Woodbridge VA on October 24, 2019| 6 Comments »
As I was wandering about Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge earlier this week, I was struck by the large number of Common Buckeye butterflies (Junonia coenia) that I observed. Not only were there a lot of them, many of them appeared to be in almost pristine condition, unlike the tattered survivors of other butterfly species that are hanging on this late in the season.
I decided to do a little research and learned from bugguide.net that Common Buckeyes have two to three broods throughout the year from May to October. I had suspected that was the case and that helps to explain the “fresh” condition of the butterflies that I observed. What was a little more surprising to learn was that, “Adults from the south’s first brood migrate north in late spring and summer to temporarily colonize most of the United States and parts of southern Canada.”
I don’t know if the Common Buckeye butterflies in my area will migrate south to avoid the freezing temperatures that will soon be upon us or if they will remain with us. In either case, I love to see these little butterflies and marvel at the way that their colors fit in with nature’s autumn color palette.
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.
Posted in Art, Butterflies, Nature, Photography, Summer, wildlife, tagged Canon 50D, Common Buckeye, Common Buckeye butterfly, Fort Belvoir VA, goldenrod, Jackson Miles Abbott Wetland Refuge, Junonia coenia, Tamron 180mm on August 16, 2019| 11 Comments »
On Wednesday I spotted this colorful Common Buckeye butterfly (Junonia coenia) perched on some goldenrod at Jackson Miles Abbott Wetland Refuge. The fact that the butterfly was facing downward gives this image an abstract feel that I really like. My mind does not immediately register that this is a butterfly and instead focuses on the wonderful shapes and colors.
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.
Posted in Butterflies, Insects, Nature, Photography, Summer, wildlife, tagged Canon 50D, Common Buckeye, Common Buckeye butterfly, Fort Belvoir VA, Jackson Miles Abbott Wetland Refuge, Junonia coenia, Tamron 180mm on July 9, 2019| 6 Comments »
One of the real joys of the summer is having the chance to see colorful butterflies, like this Common Buckeye butterfly (Junonia coenia) that I observed last week at Jackson Miles Abbott Wetland Refuge. I am not sure what creature has been munching on the vegetation on which the butterfly is perched, but I really like the way that the holes in leaves mirror the circular shapes of the butterfly’s eye spots.
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.
Posted in Autumn, Butterflies, Insects, Nature, Photography, wildlife, tagged Canon 50D, Common Buckeye, Common Buckeye butterfly, Junonia coenia, Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge, Tamron 150-600mm, Woodbridge VA on October 26, 2018| 7 Comments »
The brightly colored summer butterflies have mostly disappeared, but Common Buckeye butterflies (Junonia coenia) still accompany me in great numbers as I walk the trails of Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge. The subdued, earthy shades of this beautiful butterfly seem a perfect match for the autumn season.
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.
Posted in Butterflies, Insects, Nature, Photography, wildlife, tagged Canon 50D, Common Buckeye, Common Buckeye butterfly, Junonia coenia, Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge, Tamron 180mm, uncommon beauty, Woodbridge VA on September 10, 2018| 5 Comments »
The directional lighting from the back and side gave a cool and dramatically uncommon vibe to this image of a Common Buckeye butterfly (Junonia coenia) that I photographed on 31 August at Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge.
The ground is saturated and rain continues to fall, so I am not sure that I will be out and about today with my camera. It is actually a good thing, I think, to go back and look over my photos—I sometimes get so caught up in taking new photos that I don’t stop and look over my slightly older ones. I am often pleasantly surprised to discover some jewels, like this image.
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved
Posted in Autumn, Butterflies, Insects, Macro Photography, Nature, Photography, tagged Common Buckeye, Common Buckeye butterfly, Junonia coenia on November 20, 2016| 3 Comments »
If it hadn’t been moving, I am pretty sure that I would not have spotted this Common Buckeye butterfly (Junonia coenia) on Friday at Huntley Meadows Park. The butterfly was perfectly camouflaged among all of the fallen leaves and even in this cropped image you have to look hard to see it.
I am also including a copy of the original image, in which the butterfly is even harder to find. The image reminds me of some of the complicated jigsaw puzzles that my Mom used to like to do when I was a child. I remember one puzzle that was a circular one depicting a plate of spaghetti. Needless to say, my Mom had a lot of patience and persistence.
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.
Posted in Butterflies, Flowers, Macro Photography, Nature, Photography, tagged Canon 50D, Common Buckeye, Common Buckeye butterfly, Fort Belvoir VA, goldenrod, Jackson Miles Abbot Wetlands Refuge, Junonia coenia, Tamron 180mm on August 24, 2016| 3 Comments »
This Common Buckeye butterfly (Junonia coenia) was so focused on the goldenrod flowers that it was either unaware of my presence or simply didn’t care on Monday at Jackson Miles Abbott Wetlands Refuge. I was therefore able to capture the beauty of the butterfly from a somewhat unusual angle that lets us see some of the wonderful markings on the body as well as on the wings.
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.
Posted in Butterflies, Insects, Macro Photography, Nature, Photography, Summer, tagged Buttonbush, Canon 50D, Cephalanthus occidentalis, Common Buckeye, Common Buckeye butterfly, Fort Belvoir VA, Jackson Miles Abbot Wetlands Refuge, Junonia coenia, Tamron 180mm macro on July 20, 2016| 7 Comments »
I first spotted this small Common Buckeye Butterfly (Junonia coenia) as it was flying low above a grassy patch at Jackson Miles Abbott Wetlands Refuge. Periodically it would stop and I would attempt to get a shot of it. It was probably hilarious to watch our little pas de deux—the butterfly would fly and perch and I would bend my knees and crouch, which served as a signal for the butterfly to take off again.
I’m pretty patient, so we danced this way for quite a while before the butterfly decided to perch on some low vegetation rather than on the bare ground. I was finally able to capture a shot, though the butterfly didn’t pose long before taking off again.
As I continued the chase, my knees started getting a bit sore. I was thinking of giving up the chase when suddenly the butterfly flew higher into the air and landed on a buttonbush (Cephalanthus occidentalis). These bushes are a virtual magnet for butterflies and I love the spiky spheres of the plant. I wasn’t able to get very close to the buttonbush, but captured this image that I really like.
The chase ended here and we went our separate ways. I hope that I never get too old or too self-conscious to chase butterflies, a pursuit that makes me feel like a carefree child again.
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.
Posted in Autumn, Butterflies, Nature, Photography, tagged Alexandria VA, Canon 50D, Common Buckeye, Common Buckeye butterfly, Huntley Meadows Park, Junonia coenia, Tamron 180mm macro lens on November 18, 2015| 5 Comments »
At first I thought it was only a leaf blowing in the breeze and then I slowly came to realize that it was a Common Buckeye butterfly (Junonia coenia), an unexpected sight in mid-November.
Although faded and tattered, this survivor butterfly is still spectacular, despite its “common” name.
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.
Posted in Butterflies, Flowers, Insects, Nature, Photography, tagged Alexandria VA, Canon 50D, Common Buckeye, Common Buckeye butterfly, Huntley Meadows Park, Junonia coenia, Tamron 150-600mm telephoto, Th on September 21, 2015| 8 Comments »
Though it is officially called “common,” the bright colors and patterns of this Common Buckeye butterfly (Junonia coenia) make it uncommonly beautiful in my eyes. (I should also note that it is not common for me to spot one—I’ve seen them only a few times this summer.)
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.
Posted in Autumn, Butterflies, Insects, Macro Photography, Nature, Photography, tagged Alexandria VA, butterfly, Canon 50D, Common Buckeye, Common Buckeye butterfly, Huntley Meadows Park, Junonia coenia, Tamron 180mm macro lens on November 5, 2014| 12 Comments »
Butterflies in November? I didn’t really expect to see any, so it was a pleasant surprise when I came upon this Common Buckeye (Junonia coenia) on Monday at my local marsh. The butterfly is beat-up and bedraggled, but its beauty beams brightly—uncommon beauty at an unexpected time.
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.
Posted in Art, Butterflies, Flowers, Gardening, Insects, Macro Photography, Nature, Photography, Portraits, Summer, tagged Alexandria VA, Canon 50D, Common Buckeye, Common Buckeye butterfly, green spring gardens, Junonia coenia, Tamron 180mm macro lens on July 17, 2014| 13 Comments »
Although I don’t live in Ohio, nicknamed “The Buckeye State,” I think that I can claim that Virginia also is a Buckeye state, because we are a home to the uncommonly beautiful Common Buckeye butterfly (Junonia coenia).
I have seen few colorful butterflies so far this summer, besides the Great Spangled Fritillary butterflies that I featured in a posting in June. Where are all the Monarchs and Eastern Swallowtails? I don’t know if they were affected by the polar vortex of this past winter or if I am merely looking for them in all the wrong places, but their numbers seem to be unusually low this summer.
I was therefore thrilled this past Monday, when I caught sight of this Common Buckeye. Its coloration is so distinctive that I immediately recognized it and chased after it a bit. Fortunately I was able to capture several images of this beautiful creature before it flew out of sight.
Looking at these images, I am happy to proclaim that I live in a Buckeye state.
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.
Posted in Bugs, Flowers, Gardening, Insects, Nature, Photography, wildlife, tagged Canon 55-250mm zoom lens, Canon Rebel XT, Common Buckeye, Common Buckeye butterfly, Huntley Meadows Park, Junonia coenia on September 22, 2012| 7 Comments »
Yesterday was a common day for finding subjects to photograph. I already posted a photo of a Common Whitetail dragonfly. Here’s a photo of the Common Buckeye butterfly (Junonia coenia).
A 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 day and there was more sunlight that I would have liked when. However, I managed to get a shot of the butterfly in which the sun is shining through one of its wings, highlighting the beauty of those wings. There are still some harsh shadows in the photo and the colors are not as saturated as they would have been with more diffused light, but I find that the colors and patterns of this butterfly make it uncommonly beautiful.
Common Buckeye butterfly in mid-September
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.
Posted in Bugs, Flowers, Gardening, Insects, Nature, Photography, tagged butterfly, Common Buckeye, Common Buckeye butterfly, Junonia coenia, pink flower, prominent eye spots, purple flower on August 25, 2012| 9 Comments »
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.
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.
