We are pleased to announce the winner of our most recent Monday Nature Mystery, Ben Jessup! (Please email your snail mail address and preference for a hat or tote bag to [email protected])
Congratulations to Ben for identifying the American Lady butterfly (Vanessa cardui). According to Bug Guide, the American Lady is the brightest/darkest orange of the three North American "Ladies". Fresh individuals of Painted Lady often show a pinkish suffusion above that is absent or less developed in American Lady and absent in West Coast Lady (it tends to vanish as the insect ages). The black markings on the upper surface of American Lady average narrower than Painted Lady. The large pale bar near the middle of the upper front wing is white in Painted Lady, orange in West Coast Lady, but can be either color in American Lady. Two of the submarginal dark "eyespots" on the upper hind wings are filled with blue in the American Lady (usually little or no blue on same spots in Painted Lady; usually four with blue on West Coast Lady). The under hind wing has two prominent large submarginal eyespots, unlike the much smaller four or five in the other two lady species.
Last Week's Mystery: American Lady butterfly (Vanessa cardui) Photo: Judy Gallagher
Each Monday we’ll post a new photo and identify the previous week’s winner. They’ll receive an NVBA hat or tote bag.
Be sure to post your answer on our Facebook page @NVBirdAlliance under the Monday Mystery post...do not reply to this email with your guess! We only accept entries from our Facebook page, not via email.
Please remember to write the common name, being mindful of hyphens, uppercase and lowercase letters and always include the Latin name in parentheses. To learn more about bird names click here.
Who is this? Photo: Judy Gallagher
This week’s Mystery: Who is this?
Post your guess (please list both common name and Latin name) on our Facebook page @NVBirdAlliance under this week's Monday Nature Mystery. Remember, we only accept entries from our Facebook page, not via email!
Good luck!
-Northern Virginia Bird Alliance
Please note that we only accept entries on our Facebook page where they are date- and time-stamped. Remember that, if you need to correct your entry, you should make a new posting instead of correcting the old one so that we get a correct time stamp for your correction. Winners are limited to one prize every 90 days, maximum 2 per person, but we are starting fresh since we have a new logo! If you have already won twice, feel free to play and try to win a hat or tote with our new logo on it. Please note, there may be a delay because these items are not yet in, so you will go on a list to receive them as soon as they come in.
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