Red Admiral Butterflies Migrating Early This Year

Have you been seeing swarms of Red Admiral Butterflies lately? We have seen many here at ! These 2-3 inch beauties are related to Painted Lady and American Lady Butterflies.

Red Admiral Butterflies took advantage of the southerly winds and moist air of the weather front last week, which created so much severe weather from Texas to Iowa to move northward. The butterflies arrived two to three weeks earlier than usual in some parts of the Midwest and Canada due to our unusually warm spring.

Adults prefer to feed on tree sap and fermenting fruit, but they will nectar on any available flowers too. The host plant for these butterflies is Nettle, so look for small spiny black caterpillars on Nettle plants soon. They sometimes even pull the edges of a leaf they are eating together to form a shelter, so they can eat without concern over predation.

Unlike Monarch butterflies, the overwintering of Red Admirals is poorly understood. Click here to find out more, or help researchers study these butterflies.