Some Things With Wings (but no feathers)

And two of them are variegated (what’s that you say?)

The word “variegated” has Latin roots and was adopted into English in the 17th century during the time that naturalists were beginning to ‘find’, name and catalogue everything in the natural world. “Variegated” is pronounced VAIR-ee-uh-gai-ted and means ‘made of various colors’. So the Variegated Meadowhawk dragonfly was given its name due to the varied colors on its body.

Meadowhawk dragonflies don’t stick as close to water as many other dragonflies do. Their willingness to hunt in more open “grassy” areas led to their name. This Variegated Meadowhawk was warming up in the morning by perching on a rock near a dried out creek bed. When we approached it too closely, it flew to a different nearby rock to perch on.

Another thing-with-wings that has shown up in Tucson in great numbers recently is the American Snout butterfly. You can see the snout that it was named after. Ned Harris tells us about these butterflies in a post with the Sabino Canyon Volunteer Naturalists.

This large yellow butterfly is a Southern Dogface. The dogface is apparent when the wing is open. The black spot seen on the underside of the forewing is the dog’s eye.

The Fiery Skipper is a unique looking butterfly. It is a small butterfly with small wings and a very large eye. Birds and Blooms magazine has a nice article telling us all about it.

When the Fiery Skipper opens its wings, it looks to me like a fighter jet. It is triangular shaped and holds its hindwings flat and the forewings in a vertical position. Although it is a bit difficult to see, the forewings in this shot are being held straight up, perpendicular from the hindwings.

Here is yet another butterfly and it has a fancy word in its name: this is a Variegated Fritillary! Yes, it is variegated with its varied look of browns, buffs and oranges. The word Fritillary comes from the Latin word meaning checkerboard pattern.

When you are out looking for birds, often other things with wings fly across your field of vision. It is nice to get to know some of them.