Ontario Butterflies
If you visit Ontario in summer you'll see Ontario butterflies. Lots of them. The meadows and woodlots of Ontario are filled with butterflies flitting from flower to wildflower from May to September. Butterflies say summer more than any other animal. The largest of the Ontario Butterflies is the 'mighty' Monarch, which is an overstatement for dramatic effect on my part because it's not huge. It's just very brightly coloured and stands out brilliantly among the milkweed plants it feeds on. This one isn't feeding on Milkweed, see our Ontario Wildflowers page, it's enjoying the nectar of Queen Anne's Lace.
Another one of the larger butterflies is the Red Admiral (or Admirable), which (like this one) often visit Hummingbird feeders in Ontario gardens. Its colouring is similar to the Monarch and Viceroy but not so regular, more blotches of color rather than a fixed pattern. It's also not so common as the other two.
The black swallowtail is also a large butterfly, almost the size of the Monarch, but where the Monarch is overwhelmingly red with black details, the swallowtail is dusky black with blue and orange patches on the trailing edges of its wings.
This Sulphur, or Sulfer, is a common sight throughout Ontario's summer months, flitting across the grass from clover to vetch, its dusty sulphur-yellow wings looking just like a summer flower.
Fritillaries come in many colors, blue like this one or amber like the next one. These small butterflies hug the ground, flying up only when you walk through the meadow.
If you've enjoyed this page of butterflies, you may also like the pictures on our dragonfly photos page. Return to Home Page from Ontario Butterflies |
Looking a lot like the Monarch, the Viceroy mimics the larger butterfly's coloring because Monarchs are poisonous from eating too much milkweed, while Viceroys aren't poisonous and would otherwise be good eating for
