The Northern Azure butterfly
Celastrina lucia -Family Lycaenidae
The Northern Azure butterfly is a small blue butterfly that you can attract to your butterfly garden by planting its host and nectar plants. This little butterfly flits about so quickly that you may not have noticed it while walking in its habitat areas. But once you learn about the Northern Azure butterfly and recognize their habitat, you will see pretty little flashes of blue flitting among the flowers and shrubs.
Host Plants
For the Northern Azure Caterpillar
Northern Azure caterpillars feed on the buds and leaves of dogwoods (Cornus spp.), cherries (Prunus spp.), blueberries (Vaccinium spp.), meadowsweet (Spiraea spp.), viburnums (Viburnum spp.), New Jersey Tea (Ceanothus Americana), and Bristly Sarsaparilla (Aralia hispida).
Nectar Plants for the Northern Azure Butterfly
Northern Azure butterflies nectar from flowers including blackberry (Rubus spp.), Dogbane (Apocynum cannabinum), New Jersey Tea (Ceanothus Americana), and milkweed (Asclepias spp.).
Northern Azure Butterfly Appearance
The male Northern Azure butterfly has pale blue upper side wings with brown edges. The female is pale blue to brownish blue with brown borders on the forewings and brown spots on the hind wings. The undersides of the wings are light brown/grey with dark crescents and zigzag patterns.
Wingspan:
2.2 – 3.5 cm (.86 – 1.4 in)
Adult Butterfly Broods/Flight
They have one to 2 broods per year and fly from April to July.
Adult Butterfly Behaviour
Male Northern Azure butterflies patrol for mates in forest openings and edges and along forest trails. They sometimes ascend to treetops on sunny spring days. The males will often ‘puddle’ together on the damp ground.
Range
Northern Azures are found in eastern North America, ranging from the Maritimes south through to West Virginia.
Habitat
Their wild habitats are old fields, clearings, edges of deciduous forests, and freshwater swamps. By planting their host and nectar plants, your garden can also become their habitat.
Northern Azure Eggs
Females lay eggs singly on the flower buds of the host plant. The eggs hatch in 3 to 6 days.
The Northern Azure Caterpillar
Caterpillars are very vulnerable to predators. Spiders, birds, small rodents and many insects prey on caterpillars. They are also sometimes slowly killed by parasitizing wasps laying their eggs on or in them. To help increase their chances of survival, most caterpillars have a defence mechanism to help ward off predators. The Northern Azure caterpillars, and all caterpillars in the Lycaenidae family, produce honeydew, a sweet, nectar-like substance that they excrete onto their body surface. The honeydew attracts ants to them. The ants lick the sweet substance off the caterpillars while frequently tapping them so that they produce more honeydew. The ants will then protect, or at least try to protect the caterpillars from any predators.
Northern Azure caterpillars change their colours depending on their food sources. They are commonly green and covered in white stubble. Like all other Azures, the caterpillars eat the buds and flower parts of their host plants. The Azure caterpillar has four instars. Each instar is the time between shedding their skin, which enables them to grow bigger. This stage lasts about 12 – 25 days.
Northern Azure Chrysalis
The chrysalis is a light, yellowish brown. The Northern Azure pupates in the soil or a crevice in the ground. Adults emerge (enclose) from the chrysalis if it is a non-diapausing pupa in 7 – 19 days. If it is a diapausing pupa, it overwinters for 10 to 11 months.
Overwintering
The Northern Azure overwinters as a chrysalis.
Leave the Leaves
Reducing your lawn, growing more native plants and leaving the leaves in your garden are crucial things to do in a wildlife/butterfly garden. There are many different species of insects that shelter, develop and overwinter in leaf litter. Having leaf litter and plants beneath your trees also provides a soft landing and safe shelter for any chrysalis or caterpillars that become detached from branches or stems. The Northern Azure butterfly overwinters as a chrysalis, so there is yet another reason to leave the leaves in your butterfly garden!
Shelter
Butterflies often need shelter areas within their habitat to hide from predators and protect themselves in bad weather. Shrubs, preferably native, and brush-piles are great shelters for butterflies.
A Butterfly Garden – is a pollinator/wildlife garden. Never use herbicides or pesticides anywhere near a butterfly garden.
Look but do not touch – please do not buy butterfly kits or chrysalises from commercial breeders or home-reared butterflies. This is cruel to butterflies, can create unfit populations and spread diseases to the wild species.
Links to find out more about plants native to your area:
https://cwf-fcf.org/en/resources/encyclopedias/native-plant-encyclopedia
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