Three butterflies that overwinter as adults. Snuggled down in crevices of tree bark or in leaf litter. Perhaps the leaf litter in your gardens. That is IF you’ve left the leaf litter there in your yard as a potential sanctuary from the freezing cold of winter.

Eastern Comma (Polygonia comma)

Question Mark (Polygonia interrogationis)

Mourning Cloak (Nymphalis antiopa)

All three of these butterflies spend the winter as adults in a dormant state hiding from the chill of winter. Either under leaf litter, in a crevice of tree bark or some other place it might find to escape the cold. On any particularly warm day you might find one of these butterflies out enjoying the warmth only to return until winter has completed its progression through the calendar.

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