Rare Sighting of Harvester Butterfly

Harvester butterfly, Feniseca tarquinius, Cedar Area, Frautschi woods

On August 7, Glenda Denniston sighted and photographed this rare visitor to the Preserve. Ed Spalding, butterfly expert and field trip leader of "Pretty things with Wings" commented that Glenda's sighting of the Harvester butterfly is clearly a "lifer". 
Glenda reports: "It was (very briefly) on a leaf at the Field Edge Gully [along Frautschi Woods]. I've never before seen one, though a friend had told me he used to see them occasionally in a particular spot at the edge of Bill's Woods. It's our one carnivorous butterfly: the larvae eat small insects rather than leaves." Glenda, thank you for sharing this special sighting.

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