red admiral butterfly /Vanessa atalanta
The Red Admiral butterfly is a migratory species like the Monarch butterfly. It is a large butterfly in the Nymphalidae family. It is a common butterfly that you can attract to your garden by having the nectar and host plants that it needs for its lifecycle
Red Admiral Butterfly Diet/Nectar Plants
The Red Admiral butterfly drinks tree sap and the liquid on fermented fruit and bird droppings. It will sometimes drink nectar from flowers such as milkweeds (Asclepias spp.), Joe Pyes (Eutrochium spp.), goldenrods (Solidago spp.), and others.
The Red Admiral Caterpillar Host Plant(s)
The Red Admiral host plants are of the nettle family (Urticaceae), including Tall Wild Nettle (Urtica gracilis), Wood Nettle (Laportea canadensis), Smallspike False Nettle (Boehmeria cylindrica) and European Stinging Nettle (Urtica dioica).
Planting nettles for the Red Admiral caterpillars may not seem too appealing, but there is a native species of nettle that does not have stinging spines. Smallspike False Nettle (Boehmeria cylindrica) is a species of nettle native to North America that doesn’t have any fine stinging spines. Smallspike False Nettle likes partial shade and medium to medium wet soil. Seeds can be bought at https://www.prairiemoon.com/
If you have an out-of-the-way shady place in the garden, you can plant the stinging kind of nettle, Wood Nettle. Wood Nettle appears in shady, damp areas of my yard and self-seeds. I let Wood Nettle grow freely in my yard except beside pathways. I’ve noticed a few Red Admiral butterflies in the garden during the summer, so maybe my garden has enough suitable habitat for this butterfly.
Red Admiral Butterfly Adult Description
The upper surface wings of the Red Admiral butterfly are brown to black. The forewings have white spots at the tips and a red band across the middle. The hind wing has a red-to-orange marginal border with dark spots. The forewing on the underside looks the same as the upper forewing. The hind wing underside is mottled brown with dark patterns providing camouflage in the trees.
Males and females have the same appearance.
Broods/Flight: There are two broods per year, flying from May into October.
Behaviour: The males establish their territory on hilltops and in clearings. In the late afternoon and early evening, they patrol for females and aggressively chase away other males who have entered their area.
Wingspan: 4.4 – 5.7 cm (1.75 – 2.25 in)
Red Admiral Butterfly Habitat
The Red Admiral butterfly lives in many habitats: floodplains, forests, woodlands, clearings, vacant lots, gardens, and even urban areas.
Range
In Canada, the Red Admiral ranges in southern British Columbia, the southern prairie provinces, southern Ontario and Quebec, and through the Maritime Provinces.
In the US, it ranges from the West Coast to the East Coast and as far south as northern Mexico.
It is also found throughout Europe and in central Asia.
Red Admiral Butterfly Migration
The Red Admiral overwinters as an adult. It cannot withstand extreme cold winters, so the butterflies in the northern regions migrate south. Unlike Monarch butterflies, Red Admirals do not have a specific overwintering location. They can overwinter successfully in northern areas if it is a mild winter. The Red Admirals that have migrated south return to the northern areas of their range in the spring.
Red Admiral Butterfly Eggs
Red Admiral eggs are green and dome-shaped with vertical ridges. The female lays them singly on the tops of the host plant leaves.
Red Admiral Caterpillar
The caterpillar can vary in colour, from black to grey, brown, sometimes yellowish-green, or a combination of colours. When they are mature, they have bristly spines along their bodies.
The caterpillar makes a shelter for itself by using its silk to bind the leaves of its host plant. They often feed from within this shelter. When the shelter leaf has been eaten, the caterpillar creates another leaf shelter.
Red Admiral Chrysalis
Unlike many caterpillars, the Red Admiral does not leave its host plant to form a chrysalis. When the caterpillar is fully grown, it attaches a cremaster to the stem of a leaf that it has made into a shelter and transforms into a chrysalis. The chrysalis is grey to light brown with gold dots. It has short spines and resembles a dead leaf.
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 leaves and 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 leaves in your garden provide a soft landing for any Red Admiral chrysalis that may fall from the branches.
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. Please do not home-rear butterflies. This is cruel to butterflies, can create unfit populations and can 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
Other migrating butterflies in this blog:
The Monarch Butterfly
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