Monarch Butterfly Status Update

Howdy, BugFans, This is a Good-News-Bad News-Stay-Tuned kind of story.  But first, a little background. Besides being large and lovely, Monarch butterflies, of course, catch our fancy because of the death-defying migrations they undertake twice a year. Migrations – fueled by flowers …

Gulf Fritillary – a Snowbird Special

Howdy, BugFans, Life is busy – here’s a not-so-Golden Oldie, from the BugLady’s favorites list. First of all, it’s a stunning butterfly. (The BugLady’s picture doesn’t do it justice – the original slide, taken in Texas, was fine, but the scanned …

The Twelve (or so) Bugs of Christmas

Season’s Greetings, BugFans, It’s time to celebrate a dozen (or so) of the beautiful bugs that posed for the BugLady this year (and that have already graced their own episodes).  Click on each photo to read more. Great Spangled Fritillary …

Summer Sights

(Note: Links below are to external sites. Click on thumbnail images to see larger versions.) Greetings, BugFans, The BugLady has been scouring the landscape and aiming her camera at anything that will sit still (and some that won’t). And without going too overboard …

Wildflower Watch – Swamp Milkweed

Note: All the links leave to external site. Howdy, BugFans, The BugLady is already fantasizing about warm, sunny days in a wetland, photographing Swamp milkweed (and dragonflies), because she loves its color, and she loves being in wetlands, and because …

Broad-winged Skipper Butterfly

Howdy, BugFans, Last July, the BugLady made a couple of visits to a local wetland where she enjoyed an abundance of Broad-winged Skippers on swamp milkweed. A brief introduction—broad-winged Skippers are in the family Hesperiidae (the Skippers). Most skippers are …

Coral Hairstreak Butterfly

Note: All links leave to external sites. Howdy, BugFans, Hairstreaks (and Blues and Coppers and Harvesters) are members of the Gossamer-winged butterfly family Lycaenidae (“Gossamer-winged” being a nod to the iridescent sheen on the wings of many family members). Numbering …

Mid-Summer Scenes

Greetings, BugFans, Summer has reached its half-way point, and the BugLady has been recording the changing of the guard. The adult lives of most insects are brief – four to six weeks for many, and considerably less for some. Bluet …

Compton Tortoiseshell Butterfly

(Note: All links below are to external sites.) Greetings, BugFans, This butterfly needs a better name!  (More about that, later) The BugLady found this beauty in the woods on a cool April day. Like the Mourning Cloak, of recent BOTW …

Listing the Monarch

Greetings, BugFans, The BugLady wrote this article for the newsletter of the Western Great Lakes Bird and Bat Observatory (an organization that would love to have your support). Although they meet the criteria to be included as a Threatened species …

UWM Land Acknowledgement: We acknowledge in Milwaukee that we are on traditional Potawatomi, Ho-Chunk and Menominee homeland along the southwest shores of Michigami, North America’s largest system of freshwater lakes, where the Milwaukee, Menominee and Kinnickinnic rivers meet and the people of Wisconsin’s sovereign Anishinaabe, Ho-Chunk, Menominee, Oneida and Mohican nations remain present.   |   To learn more, visit the Electa Quinney Institute website.