Light On Their Toes - Principles of Flight

American Lady and Ruby-throated

For their size, the butterflies and hummingbirds seem like the most light-toed creatures in our garden. They move about from flower to flower with what seems like little effort. I hadn't seen an American Lady butterfly (a) before, and few hummingbirds had appeared in the past years. This morning while drinking coffee and reading the paper on the patio, both of these showed up. The Ruby-throated hummingbird (b) female was checking out a really late-season gladiolus flower stalk right beside Jan, and the butterfly was working over the butterfly bush in towards the back of the yard. The butterfly flies silently, while as the hummingbird's wings beat, the humming sound is a near-silent give-away of this presence. Through the glass patio door windows, or from a distance, they are equally handicapped.

Their ability to fly is the result of the lift their wings afford them overcoming the force of gravity - their motion forward (and backward) by was of thrust that is more powerful than drag. Together, the result is the same for both - mobility about our yard and across fences when my creeping up on them for a picture exceeds their flight distance. A simple explanation for how all this works is shown in a video produced by NASA - the National Aeronautics and Space Administration and available off of the Glenn Research Center Website.  The clip can be viewed by clicking on the video below.

It took a little bit of work for me to figure out that the butterfly was an American Lady. (1)  The Website Butterflies and Moths of North America - Collecting and sharing data about Lepidoptera is a great resource - better than other regional identification sites. It can be accessed by clicking here. The gallery for Butterflies and Moths of North America by clicking here. The site was pretty slow refreshing from one gallery page to the next, but after 13 pages, I made a positive identification. On the other hand, for the humming bird, I new from memory what it was, but when I looked it up I saw that it wasn't "red-throated", but rather "ruby". Other information about the Ruby-throated Hummingbird can be found clicking here. This link is from a Operation Ruby Throat Website with check-off lists for all of the states.
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(1) American Lady
Vanessa virginiensis (Drury, 1773) 

Family: Nymphalidae

Subfamily: Nymphalinae

Identification: Upperside with uneven brown, yellow, and orange pattern. Forewing with a black apical patch, a small white spot in the orange field below the patch, and a white bar at the leading edge of the forewing. Underside of hindwing with two large eyespots. Winter form is smaller and paler, summer form larger with brighter coloring.

Life History: During the afternoon, males perch on hilltops or on low vegetation if there are no hills. Females lay eggs singly on the top of host plant leaves. Caterpillars are solitary, living and feeding in a nest of leaves tied with silk. Adults hibernate.

Wing Span: 1 3/4 - 2 5/8 inches (4.5 - 6.7 cm).

Caterpillar Hosts: Plants in the sunflower family everlasting (Gnaphalium obtusifolium), pearly everlasting (Anaphalis margaritacea), plantain-leaved pussy toes (Antennaria plantaginifolia), wormwood (Artemisia), ironweed (Vernonia), and burdock (Arctium).

Adult Food: Flower nectar almost exclusively, including dogbane, aster, goldenrod, marigold, selfheal, common milkweed, and vetch.

Habitat: Open places with low vegetation including dunes, meadows, parks, vacant lots, forest edges.

Range: Resident in the southern United States, Mexico, and Central America south to Colombia. Migrates to and temporarily colonizes the northern United States, southern Canada, the West Indies, and Europe. Rare stray to Newfoundland and Labrador.

Conservation: Not required.

NCGR: G5 - Demonstrably secure globally, though it may be quite rare in parts of its range, especially at the periphery.

Management Needs: None reported.

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(2) Ruby-throated Hummingbird
Archilochus colubris

The male ruby-throated hummingbird does indeed have a striking red throat, though the female of the species does not. You would have to look quickly to see either, however, as these speedy little birds can beat their wings 53 times a second and fly in an acrobatic style matched by few other birds. They hover often, and also fly upside down and backwards. These hummingbirds have extremely short legs, so they cannot walk or even hop with any efficiency.

Ruby-throated hummingbirds live in woodland areas, but also frequent gardens where flowering plants are plentiful. They hover to feed on flowers, nectar, and sap. During this floral feeding process, the birds pollinate many plants.

These tiny birds are omnivores, sometimes feeding on insects and spiders. An adult ruby-throated hummingbird may eat twice its body weight in food each day, which it burns up with the high metabolism necessary to sustain its rapid wing beat and energetic movements.

This hummingbird breeds in eastern North America and is the only hummingbird species to do so. Males establish a territory and court females who enter it with flying and diving behaviors, and by showing off their red throat plumage. Females provide all care for young hummingbirds. They lay one to three eggs, incubate them for about two weeks, and, after hatching, feed their young for about three weeks. A female may have several broods in a year. Ruby-throated hummingbirds are largely solitary outside of the breeding season.

Ruby-throated hummingbirds winter in Mexico and Central America. To get there from their North American breeding grounds some birds embark on a marathon, nonstop flight across the Gulf of Mexico. They may double their weight in preparation for this grueling journey.