Butterfly Hunting at Crex Meadows

Crex Meadows in west central Wisconsin is a great place to go to find and photograph some unusual early season butterflies. Last year I went on a butterfly excursion with a local butterfly expert. I have been photographing butterflies for years but have concentrated more on my odes then on lepidoptera.

I had photographed butterflies at Crex before. This was primarily in the middle of summer when the fields are full of wild flowers and orange and black fritillaries and monarchs and yellow sulphurs are all over the place.Going out in early may with someone who knows where to look offered me an opportunity to photograph some species that I had not in the past. I had photographed Olympia marbled, first pic, in the past but it was my first time photographing any species of elfin butterfly. We found 3 different species of elfins that day, the most common was the eastern pine elfin which is pictured above, This year the cold weather pushed the dates of the butterfly trip back to the end of May and unfortunately I was not able to attend but I am hoping to get back out there next year.

Olympia Marble

The olympia marble is an early spring butterfly that is found in the central United States. Its range extends east from the Rocky Mountains to the Great Lakes. In the north the range extends into southern Canada and runs down into northern Texas. The butterflies are most often found in shale grasslands, lakeshore dunes, open woodlands, prairie and meadow habitat.
These pictures were taken at Crex Meadows in Wisconsin. Wisconsin has the largest population of olympia marble out of any state in the United States.
Female olympia marble lay one egg on a larval host plant, typically rock cresses. The larva will eat the plant and then will form a chrysalis which is how it will spend the winter. There is typically only one brood per year and they are usually on the wing from mid April through June. I took these pictures in May of 2010.

Olympia Marble