First Mourning Cloak, Babcock

These days, I have an agenda whenever I head out for a walk... and finding the first Mourning Cloak butterfly is always high on the March natural history documentation list. The adults of this widespread and truly gorgeous lepidopteran—it's known in England as the Camberwell Beauty (given its rarity there, it was also dubbed the "Great Surprise" when first described in 1748)—do something pretty unusual for a butterfly and overwinter as adults. Most true leps spend the cold times in the relatively frost-resistant egg or pupal stage and only spring back to life when temperatures warm and the leaves emerge, but Nymphalis antiopa has somehow figured out how to avoid frostbite in its above-ground hibernaculum, which is typically under loose bark and out of the chilly and desiccating winter winds. This strategy gives the Mourning Cloaks a kind of advantage, and around here, they're almost always the first bona fide butterflies on the wing. I think they were out earlier in the week, but this afternoon was my time to find them taking advantage of the warmth and the sunshine.