September 15, 2025

A Red-spotted Purple (Limenitis arthemis) showing off its colors in the sunlight. Red? Orange? My vote is for orange spots. And purple? I’d vote for blue on this one. But perhaps I see colors in a different way than other people do. I think that’s quite likely.

As adults these butterflies live only 6 to 14 days, feeding on sap from trees, overripe fruits, and animal scat. They’ll also get moisture and nutrients drinking at mud puddles. They’re not very dependent on nectar from flowers but on rare occasions you might see one checking out the nectar.

It’s not the adult butterflies, but their caterpillars that survive through the winter in the rolled up leaf of one of their host plants. A few of the host plants of Red-spotted Purples include Wild Black Cherry (Prunus serotina), Willows (Salix), Poplars and Aspen (Populus), Birches (Betula), Oaks (Quercus), Hawthorn (Crataegus), and Serviceberry (Amelanchier).

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