[TN-Butterflies] meadow fritillary in fentress county by richard connors
- From: "Steve Stedman" <birdsongteam@xxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: <tn-butterflies@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Sat, 9 Oct 2010 08:30:54 -0500
As Richard stated in his message about his recent record of Meadow Fritillary
in Fentress County, this frit is moving westward, and probably expanding in
numbers, in Tennessee, so we can expect that more records will be made across
the state in the future.
My experience with this species is quite limited. I saw a few in West Virginia
during late summer a few years ago, and at that time I found individual Meadow
Frits to be quite difficult to photograph, as they are patrollers, not
perchers, and often will fly for minutes on end without stopping. They tend
to fly quite low and quite fast, so keeping up with one will test your fitness,
but this in itself can tip you off that you have one, as most of the other
frits don't fly for so long or so fast. Meadow Frits are also a bit smaller
than our more common frits (Great Spangled, Variegated, and Gulf), as well as a
bit smaller than our rarer frit (Aphrodite).
When I found an individual of this species in Clay County a few years ago, I
got lucky, discovering it while it was nectaring on buttonbush blooms, so
obtaining recognizable photos proved fairly easy. If it had been patrolling, I
probably would not have gotten a photo. In this regard, trying to photograph a
Meadow Frit can be like trying to photograph a Falcate Orangetip, another
species where the males do a lot of patrolling rather than perching to find
mates, during spring.
I think David Trently found a Meadow Frit in Blount County quite late in fall a
couple of years ago, so there is probably at least another month when this
species can be found in TN.
Steve Stedman
Other related posts:
- » [TN-Butterflies] meadow fritillary in fentress county by richard connors - Steve Stedman
