Gray Hairstreak
Strymon melinus
Gray Hairstreak · Upstate New York · 15 August 2025
A Gray Hairstreak in an Upstate meadow in August, the commonest hairstreak in North America and a butterfly of open ground and gardens from Canada to Venezuela. The caterpillars feed on the flowers and pods of legumes and mallows, which a meadow has plenty of.
A single orange spot near the tail and a pair of thread-like false antennae on the hindwing, both aimed at a predator: they draw a strike toward the wing margin rather than the actual head. Losing a scrap of hindwing to a bird costs a hairstreak nothing important; losing its real head is fatal. The trick works well enough that most hairstreaks seen in late summer are missing a tail.
Birds, insects, plants and other wildlife, mostly from Brooklyn, with some from further afield.
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