Wings of Spring
By Marilyn Shy
While there is snowpack in many places of Kalkaska County and in Michigan, small signs of spring surely are arriving in our neck of the woods. This weekend’s rain is making quick work to help our snow disappear for the season.
Yesterday I was outside raking, it was sunny and nice. Something flit by, out of the corner of my eye, and I did a double-take. Could it be...the first butterfly?
Sure enough, it was. I quickly dropped my rake and started chasing the thing all over the yard, like a madwoman. It was flying very erratically and Would Not Land, so I couldn’t get a good look.
Some of you know that I have been on a crazy kick to identify butterflies in the past couple of years. I have a great book given to me by a friend. The cool thing about butterflies is that often they will land, and then you can get a photo. This makes identification a whole lot easier.
The butterfly flew off, and I resumed raking. But a few minutes later, it showed up again. This time it landed on a pile of leaves, and I could sneak up and steal a look. I still was not able to get a photo.
I had tried to impress the pattern on the butterfly’s wings into my brain, and I quickly went to get my butterfly book, to see if I could figure out what it was.
After flipping through all the pictures, I found a likely candidate. But there were a couple of others that also looked possible. I flagged all three possibilities and tried to forget about it for a while. These kinds of identification dilemmas always make me a bit crazy.
Anyway, this morning, I stumbled on a butterfly website where people record their sightings. Sometimes they are helpful. You can plug in your country, your state, and if you like, even your county. Then you can look at sightings that have been reported in your area. And lo and behold, there it was. Someone else had seen a Compton Tortoiseshell in Kalkaska County 2 days ago!
Amazing. A small miracle. For any of you who are interested, google Compton Tortoiseshell to see what a beauty this creature is and learn more about it. Or follow this link to learn more now.