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.