Urban lepidoptera

The following e-mail arrived yesterday:

Hi Marie,

. . . In addition to Monarchs galore on the butterfly bush on our roof, we also had this visitor (see photos above). Do you know its name?

Many thanks,

John Harris

PS We live on West 81st St twixt Amsterdam and Columbus Aves.

I replied:

Hi John,

Lovely photos. I'm not much of a butterfly expert, but I do know this one. It's a Buckeye, pretty common throughout the U.S. You can see Buckeyes in Central Park's Shakespeare Garden [just a block or so from your house] fairly often.

Warm regards,

Marie