Nature Activity for Kids: Butterfly Identification

As you may know by now, we’re crazy about nature here at the Yankee Homestead.

[By the way, if you’re a parent or teacher, or have any interaction or influence with children, I highly recommend this book: Last Child in the Woods: Saving Our Children From Nature-Deficit Disorder

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The other day, instead of heading inside for rest time after lunch on the patio, we decided to chase butterflies.

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Eastern Tiger Swallowtail–notice how nicely he posed for the camera.
I was able to get several clear shots.

Specifically, we were trying to take a picture of a particularly beautiful butterfly we’d been admiring during lunch. He was such a tricky subject–capturing his image took us much longer than I’d anticipated.

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We literally chased him all over our yard, hoping to snap a picture that would help in the identification process, since we’d been unable to locate him in our pocket butterfly guide.

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Little Brother, trying to capture a specimen with his beloved butterfly net.

It didn’t help that I was using my iphone, with it’s delayed response camera, but I didn’t want to risk losing sight of him while running to fetch my DSLR.

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There he goes again…

Between the blurry pictures I managed to take, and our prolonged observations of his markings, we were able to find him in a more comprehensive butterfly guide once we returned to the house.

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We were amused to read that the Spicebush Swallowtail is “an active and steady flier, seldom alighting.” It was definitely true for our Spicebush Swallowtail–he was in constant motion!

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This was one of the best shots I managed to get of his upper wings.

So, naps were more than a little late that afternoon, but it all worked out.  We made a positive identification of our elusive butterfly, the Spicebush Swallowtail.

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Older Brother’s drawing of our Spicebush Swallowtail, on his Nature Calendar.

Hooray for butterflies!  

(And hooray for a break in our hot summer temps, which allowed us to venture outside in the middle of the day.)

More about butterflies: Year Round Nature Activity for Kids: Raising Butterflies.

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