Subject: Another Dainty Sulphur Butterfly?
Location: Coryell County, central Texas
April 27, 2013 4:29 pm
Beautiful butterfly seen in wildflowers today. Is it another Dainty Sulphur Butterfly? The in-flight photo is blurry, sorry. Thank you for your help.
Warm weather, 79 degrees, cloudy and humid, light scattered showers.
Signature: Ellen

Dainty Sulphur

Dear Ellen,
Your identification of the Dainty Sulphur, Nathalis iole, is correct.  Even though the open winged photo is blurry, it still shows the markings on this lovely little butterfly.  Spread wing photos of this species are not easily taken, and even BugGuide only has a few.  We are very grateful to be able to post your two views of a Dainty Sulphur.

Dainty Sulphur

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Subject: Checkered White Butterfly?
Location: Coryell County, central Texas
March 18, 2013 3:12 pm
Hi again. Yes, I totally played hooky for awhile this afternoon. Is this a Checkered White Butterfly? I’ve been chasing the white butterflies for awhile. They flutter gently away whenever I approach, camera in hand. Here is a Bug Guide reference: http://bugguide.net/node/view/3556
Thank you!
Signature: Ellen

Checkered White

Hi Ellen,
We are trying to post as many of your butterfly images as we can this evening, including this Checkered White.  We envy your ability to play hooky.

Checkered White

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Subject: This might be a Dainty Sulphur Butterfly
Location: Coryell County, central Texas
February 5, 2013 4:46 pm
Hello,
Wish I could have captured clearer photos of this tiny butterfly. It’s quick! Is it a Nathalis iole, a Dainty Sulphur butterfly? Gorgeous warm weather in the seventies today. I’m not sure if these are the same individual, but I believe they are the same species. Thank you.
Signature: Ellen

Dainty Sulphur

Dear Ellen,
We are thrilled to post your photos of a Dainty Sulphur or Dwarf Yellow Sulphur, Nathalis iole.  We know first hand how difficult it can be to photograph the Dainty Sulphur.

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Subject: More Sleepy Organge Butterflies?
Location: Coryell County, central Texas
January 21, 2013 2:03 am
Hello, I think we may be seeing more of the Sleepy Orange Butterflies. I should keep trying to find the name of this wildflower and plant it as ground cover if it isn’t noxious. The butterflies love it, and it’s hardy enough to endure cold night temps in the twenties and still thrive and bloom in January as soon as the afternoons warm up. The butterflies and wildflowers are amazingly resilient!
Signature: Ellen

Sleepy Orange

Hi Ellen,
It is nice to get the additional photo to supplement the image you sent in December of a Sleepy Orange.  We will request assistance with the plant identification from our readership.

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Subject: Possibly an Orange Sulfur
Location: Coryell County, central Texas
January 21, 2013 1:05 pm
Here are some photos of one of the yellow butterflies that were flying near our yard yesterday. Is it an Orange Sulfur? I freely admit that the subtle differences in species are challenging! Sorry the photo of the flight is so blurry. Love your website. Thank you for any information.
Signature: Ellen

Orange Sulphur

Hi Ellen,
In our opinion, this is an Orange Sulphur or Alfalfa Sulphur, Colias eurytheme, and the coloration is especially evident in the open winged photograph.  You can see BugGuidefor additional photos.

Orange Sulphur

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Subject: Orange Sulfur, Perhaps
Location: Coryell County, central Texas
January 21, 2013 1:55 am
These lovely butterflies were enjoying the same tiny, white flowers as many others today. I think they may be Orange Sulfurs. Several flew in pairs. Beautiful weather, sun and warm temps this afternoon.
Signature: Ellen

Southern Dogface

Hi Ellen,
The smaller, blurry butterfly in the image with two individuals is some species of Sulphur, possibly and Orange Sulphur, but the larger butterfly and the one in the photo alone is a Southern Dogface, a species not very well represented on our site.  According to BugGuide, it can be identified because the:  ”pattern of the upper forewing resembles a yellow “dog face” bordered by black, with a black circle forming the eye.”  Since the Southern Dogface in your photo is backlit, the pattern on the dorsal wing surface shows through nicely.

Southern Dogface and Sulphur

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Subject: Another Sleepy Orange Butterfly?
Location: Coryell County, central Texas
December 12, 2012 2:15 pm
After two nights of hard freeze, a few butterflies have warmed up enough to fly in search of nectar today. Most are too elusive for me, but these seem to love the autumn sage so much that they ignore nosy amateur photographers. Is it another sleepy orange? Many thanks!
Signature: Ellen

Sleepy Orange

Hi again Ellen,
We concur that this is another winter form of the Sleepy Orange.

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Subject: Many Yellow Butterflies Keeping Me from Work
Location: Coryell County, central Texas
December 4, 2012 3:22 pm
I’ve never tried to capture or identify the yellow butterflies that constantly seem to visit our yard, but today this seems so much more entertaining than sitting at the work table. I don’t know if I have this one right, but I think it’s in the Pieridae family, perhaps a Mexican yellow, Eurema mexicana. I looked in Bug Guide and in Butterflies and Moths of North America. I’m so sorry it isn’t a better photo. The weather continues warm and partly cloudy here in central Texas.
Signature: Ellen

Sleepy Orange

Hi Ellen,
We like your attitude.  You properly identified the family, but we believe this is a winter form of the Sleepy Orange, Lbaeis nicippe, based on this photo on BugGuide.  It is described on BugGuide as being:  “A medium-sized Pierid with a rather slow flight, usually close to the ground. Upperside of wings flash a lovely burnt orange. Underside of wings have variable markings: in winter form, underside of hindwing is brick red, brown, or tan; in summer form it is orange-yellow. Diagonal brown markings on underside of hindwings are distinguishable in all variations.”

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