Heather, Comma

Day 166: March is a little early for the Commas to be out and about, so I was rather surprised to find one on my heather yesterday. The day was quite warm for March, peaking at 62 degrees, and in addition to the Comma, there were some small black and white butterflies I couldn't identify as well as a few honeybees and one fat bumble whose weight caused the tips of the heather to droop when he latched on, so that he was always hanging upside-down by the time I'd got the lens trained on him. I am assuming this is a Satyr Comma (Polygonia faunus), since that species is what usually comes to my yard. However, I was unable to observe the underside of the wing where the shape of the white marking which gives the species its common name would have confirmed the identification. Satyr's "comma" looks like a check mark; Green's is rounded, and resembles the comma of punctuation. In any case, both species nectar on the nettle flowers which at the present time are still tight buds. I'm glad Mr. Comma found heather to be an acceptable substitute.

Check The Comma

Day 1: To open 365 Caws' ninth year of daily publication, I bring you Polygonia satyrus (Satyr Comma), a late-flying specimen encountered just a few days ago in Nisqually State Park. I'd gone out intending to explore the farthest reach of what I expected to be a dead-end trail (somewhere I had not gone previously in this relatively new park), but rather than terminating at a bluff above the river as anticipated, the disused path wrapped around and continued on, looping back to the main road some miles later. The highest point was a small, open grassland, and it was there that I found the Comma. I pursued it for a tenth of a mile or so, trying to get good photographs of both a dorsal and a ventral view. Every time my shadow fell across it, it would take wing and fly another ten feet before coming to rest. Individual Commas can be rather variable in colour, so the field characteristic which specifies "paler margin on hind wing" is not always 100% reliable. To tell them apart, you need to see the white marking on the underside of the wing which gives them their common name. Our two most common Commas in this area are Green and Satyr. The Green Comma's underwing is marked with a flattened semicircle; Satyr Comma's "comma" is pointed on both ends and resembles a check mark (see inset).

Satyr Comma, Polygonia Satyrus

Day 197: Of the Polygonia species found in the Pacific Northwest, the Satyr Comma (P. satyrus) can be distinguished in the dorsal view from its very similar relative, the Green Comma (P. faunus) by the lack of yellow or yellow-green spots inside the margin of the hind wing. That said, the Commas are named for a small whitish figure which appears on the underside (ventral view) of the hind wing. In P. satyrus, this strongly resembles the comma of punctuation, a "head" with a "tail." In P. faunus, the marking is more L-shaped and angular. Both species fall into the category of "big orange butterfly," a safe simplication which makes them no less enjoyable in the field.