Kristel Guimara Hello everyone and welcome! My name is Kristel Guimara and I currently live in the beautiful northern Adirondacks. I have my Bachelor's degree in Biology with a concentration in Environmental Science from Paul Smith's College located in Paul Smith's NY. Currently, I am in my second year of graduate school pursuing my Master's Degree in Conservation Biology from Green Mountain College in Poultney VT. I am currently researching the effects of black carbon concentration in the Adirondack snowpack which will be compared to samples taken in the Arctic Regions. This I hope will continue beyond my thesis requirement.
Luna and I walked for a good half hour until she decided to make a mad dash to something fluttering around in a field of dandelions. I of course followed in suit to see what caught her attention. I found her nose to nose, well actually nose to antenna, to a beautiful Painted Lady (Vanessa cardui) butterfly. The Painted Lady is a medium-sized butterfly that has a wingspan of about two inches. It has black and white spots on the top of its orange wings and a beautiful combination of pink, brown, olive, black and white colors on its underside. When it sits and rests with its wings folded together, four small eyespots can be seen on its hingwing.
The Painted Lady is often referred to as the cosmopolitan butterfly because it is the most widely distributed butterfly in the world. The Painted Lady lives on all continents except Australia and Antarctica.
This species occasionally migrates without any regard to geography or season and is referred to as an irruptive migrant. This beautiful species is great to photograph and admire as they feed on a variety of host plants such as thistle, mallow and hollyhock.
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