Hairstreak on goldenrod
Calycopis cecrops
Red-banded Hairstreak · Brooklyn Botanic Garden · 13 August 2026
A Red-banded Hairstreak on goldenrod in the August border, a small grey butterfly of the woodland edges of the eastern and southern states, easy to walk past and worth not doing so. The caterpillars feed on fallen leaves rather than living ones, which is unusual.
The thin tails and the false "head" marking at their base - a black spot with a dab of blue - are a decoy. A bird striking at what looks like the head only ever comes away with a scrap of expendable wing.
Birds, insects, plants and other wildlife, mostly from Brooklyn, with some from further afield.
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