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How to Identify Butterflies
Finding Butterflies
About these Webpages
How to Identify Butterflies
Butterflies are best observed through binoculars that can focus on close objects (~6 feet) or by using a digital camera with a good zoom/macro lens. The benefit of using a camera is that you will have a photographic record of the butterflies you see and can identify later. Alternatively, you can capture butterflies in a net and hold them in a jar for close observation before releasing them. Use a field guide to match your butterfly with the appropriate species or match it to one of the butterfly photographs on this page. The best field guide for butterflies observed in the Kutztown area is the Butterflies of Pennsylvania by Monroe and Wright (available at Firefly Bookstore in Kutztown or on Amazon). This guide illustrates with photographs only those species known to occur in Pennsylvania and provides the dates of when adults should be active or visible. This will dramatically narrow down your choices of possible species compared to a larger North American field guide. Use the list of species known to occur for North Park and the Sacony Trail to help focus your options but note that you might encounter a butterfly not yet on the list. With a little practice, you will be able to identify the group of butterflies quickly to make identifying the individual species easier. Record your butterfly observations (species, date, and location) in a field notebook. Keeping track of your observations will help improve your knowledge of the natural history of butterflies of your favorite natural areas.
Finding Butterflies
Butterflies are most active on sunny days between 10 am and 2 pm when the temperature is above 70˚ F. You will find most butterflies visiting flowers for nectar but some species only feed on tree sap or can be seen “puddling”, where they take in minerals from damp soil or animal dung. There are a few hot spots for finding butterflies in North Park and along the Sacony Trail.
At North Park, there are several good places to look for butterflies because the park is large with diverse habitats. Consult the North Park map to find the places named below. In the main area of the park near the Sacony Creek, there are three rain gardens with milkweeds (Asclepias spp.) and many blooming wildflowers that will attract Monarchs, swallowtails, and many other species. There is also a native plant garden and many wildflowers along the Old Pool Loop Trail that will attract many different species. Try the Larch Loop Trail to bring you to excellent edge habitat where the power lines come through just a short distance up the hill. Further along Larch Loop Trail look for Hackberry Emperors near the top of the loop in the vicinity of the hackberry trees there. Finally, the Bison Vista Trail will bring you to the top of the hill to overlook the Bison fields. Other field associated butterflies, such as the American Copper, have been observed here.
The Sacony Trail runs along riparian woods and edge habitat adjacent to lots of mowed grass, so butterfly abundance and diversity are low except for two excellent areas. At the north end of the Sacony Trail (behind Turkey Hill), there is an open mowed area. The swampy edges of this mowed area are excellent habitat for butterfly watching, especially in September because it is loaded with fall blooming asters. There are few other flowers blooming at this time of year and butterflies like migrating Monarchs can become concentrated here. This is also a good place to observe rare species like Fiery Skippers in early fall. The other excellent spot along the Sacony Trail is the wildflower meadow at the south end of the trail just past the observation deck (close to the high school football field). The meadow is in full bloom in July and August and is a great place to observe swallowtails, monarchs, sulphurs, and many species of skippers. The rare Baltimore Checkerspot butterfly was observed in this area in 2010 but has not been seen since then.
About these Webpages
These webpages are the work of six years of field work (2018-2023) observing and photographing butterflies and day flying moths. All the species listed here have been documented at North Park or the Sacony Trail through photographs, except for the Baltimore Checkerspot record, which is documented through a specimen in the Kutztown University Museum of Zoology Collection. Photographs on the webpages with dates in their captions were taken on that date at North Park and the Sacony trail. Most of the remaining photographs on the webpages were taken in Berks County, but a few are from elsewhere in Pennsylvania or the northeastern US. I used either a Canon 7D Mark II with EF 100-400 zoom lens or Canon R7 with RF 100-500 zoom to take these photographs. All butterflies and moths were photographed in natural light without a flash and were never captured and posed.
Enjoy the photographs and follow the links at the top of the page to learn more about our beautiful butterflies and a few day flying moths!
Acknowledgments
I thank Karl Gardner, Mengel Natural History Society, for encouraging my interest in butterflies and being a great mentor to butterfly enthusiasts in Berks County and beyond. I also thank Sheila Sacks for building these webpages from my photographs and content. Finally, Karl Garder, Mike Slater, and Robyn Underwood reviewed these webpages and offered helpful comments for improvement.
Todd J. Underwood, January 2024
Kutztown Environmental Advisory Commission
Butterfly Biology
Butterflies are insects in the Order Lepidoptera, which are defined by two pairs of broad wings that are covered in small scales. You can separate butterflies from moths by looking at the ends of their antennae. Butterfly antennae are clubbed or hooked at the end compared to moth antennae which end in a fine point or are feathery in appearance. Butterflies are among the insect groups that have a four-stage life cycle (egg, larva, pupa, adult) with complete metamorphosis. Eggs are laid on or near a host plant and hatch into a caterpillar (larva). The caterpillar feeds on the host plant and molts its cuticle skin to grow into the next size stage (instar) of caterpillar. The last stage caterpillar, or instar, molts into a pupa, which for butterflies is typically called a chrysalis. Inside the chrysalis, the butterfly undergoes metamorphosis into an adult which eventually emerges out of the chrysalis. Some species of butterflies reproduce once or have one brood of caterpillars and flight of adults per year but others may reproduce two or more times having many broods and flights per year. Our ability to observe butterflies as adults is related to these reproductive strategies because adults typically live for only a short period of time, so species with one brood may only be visible as flying adults for a few weeks at a particular time of year.
Conservation of Butterflies
Like many insects and other wildlife, butterfly populations have declined in recent decades. For example, the Monarch butterfly population in the eastern United States has decreased by about 80% since the 1990’s. Butterflies are declining because of many problems, including habitat loss, introduced plants and insects, pesticide use, and climate change. You can help conserve butterflies in your own backyard by limiting or eliminating your use of pesticides and herbicides and by planting native plants in your garden. Butterflies need more than just flowers for nectar. We need to supply host plants to raise caterpillars to support their populations. For example, Monarch butterfly adults can drink nectar from many species of flowers, but their caterpillars can only survive on milkweed (Asclepias spp.) plants in our area. Host plants including grasses, herbaceous plants and the leaves of woody plants are needed to support caterpillars of the diversity of butterflies in our area.
You will find many resources for pollinator gardens with choices of native plants. However, not all of these plants do well in the heavy clay soil in the Kutztown area. For example, Butterflyweed (Asclepias tuberosa) is an excellent and often recommended plant for Monarchs and other butterflies. However, it thrives in well drained, sandy soils and rarely survives long in the heavy clay soil in my yard. Below is a partial list of butterfly friendly plants for nectar and/or that host caterpillars that thrive in our area. Note that the adults of a few butterfly species, such as Eastern Commas and Mourning Cloaks, feed on tree sap, rotting fruit, or dung and do not regularly visit flowers. To attract these butterflies to your yard, place out over ripe bananas or other fruit in an open container.
Wildflowers
- Common Milkweed (Asclepias syriaca)
- Swamp Milkweed (Asclepias incarnata)
- Wild Bergamot (Monarda fistulosa)
- Purple Coneflower (Echinacea purpurea)
- Black-eyed Susans (Rudbeckia spp)
- Asters (Symphotrichum spp), especially Aromatic Aster (Symphotrichum oblongifolium)
- Mountain Mints (Pycnanthemum spp), especially Clustered Mountain Mint (Pycnanthemum muticum)
- Garden Phlox (Phlox paniculata)
- Pussytoes (Antennaria spp)
- Wingstem (Verbesina alternifolia)
Trees and Shrubs suitable for suburban gardens
- Spicebush (Lindera benzoin)
- Common Hackberry (Celtis occidentalis), a large tree (> 60 feet)
- Dwarf Hackberry (Celtis tenuifolia), a small tree (< 30 feet) that may be hard to find in a nursery
- Oaks (Quercus spp)
- Birches (Betula spp)
- Flowering Dogwood (Cornus florida)
Native plants can be purchased from a local nursery that carries native plants, such as Edge of the Woods Native Plant Nursery in nearby Orefield, or from a native plant sale, such as the sales held every May and September at Hawk Mountain Sanctuary. Please visit the links from the References section below to learn more about gardening for butterflies.
References
For more information on butterfly identification, distribution, biology and watching butterflies, please see the following reference books or visit these links:
Books
Monroe, J. L., and D. M. Wright. 2017. Butterflies of Pennsylvania: a field guide. University of Pittsburgh Press, Pittsburgh, PA.
Pyle, R. M. 1992. Handbook for Butterfly Watchers. Houghton Mifflin Company, Boston.
Webpages
Berks County Butterfly Sightings
Butterflies and Moths of Pennsylvania (Facebook)
North American Butterfly Association
Monarch Biology and Tagging Program
Contact
Please email Kutztown Borough’s Environmental Advisory Commission (EAC) at eac@kutztownboro.org if you observe any butterfly species at North Park or along the Sacony Trail that are not listed on this page, or if you are interested in volunteering to help maintain a pollinator garden the EAC manages.
